Spinach-Mushroom Lasagna and Sweet Potato Blondies February 5, 2009
Posted by Jay in Cookies, Pasta.6 comments
Hey everyone! The past three days I have been eating my Spinach-Mushroom Lasagna that I made!
I made it on Tuesday and it’s delicious! So I started making a tomato sauce for the lasagna but it ended up wrong. I wanted to make an Italian sauce with onions, carrots and celery. My dad who owns a pizzeria makes this all the time. The problem with mine was when I pureed it it turned orange! I think the problem was because I didn’t puree the carrots and celery in the beginning of the cooking process. I tried to fix the sauce by putting some jarred tomato sauce that I found in the fridge. Not reading the ingredients, I poured the jarred tomato sauce to my orange tomato sauce in hopes of making it redder. Bad idea the jarred tomato sauce had cheese in it!!!! I was so upset when I did this! I didn’t know weather to eat it or throw it out. I hate throwing out food and I almost never do but I didn’t want to feel guilty eating a sauce with dairy in it so sadly I threw it out. I felt so bad because I had spent about one and a half hours cooking the sauce and it went wrong!
Luckily I had some vegan jarred tomato sauce in the fridge. I almost never use jarred tomato sauce for lasagna. I thought my lasagna turn out bad with the jarred tomato sauce but thankfully it turned out really good! Now lets talk about the filling I used for it. I used the awesome Cashew Ricotta from Veganomicon! This is so so good! I would have liked it a bit more richer tasting like I made it before but the problem was that I used a bigger amount of tofu and didn’t add more cashews. When it cooked it firmed up just like dairy ricotta. It’s amazing! My filling also consited of spinach and mushrooms. I made a four layer lasagna and baked it for about an hour. Now I have been eating lasagna since Tuesday. After I finish writing this post I am going to freeze it so I can have a quick dinner when I don’t feel like making something.
I also made some Sweet Potato Blondies from Isa and Terry’s upcoming cookie book! These were really tasty and really gooey!
Well that’s about it.
Lentil & Escarole Soup, Tofu Florentine, Blondies, and Green Smoothies February 2, 2009
Posted by Jay in Beans, Brunch, Soups, The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen Cookbook, Uncategorized.Tags: Brunch, green smoothies
9 comments
Hey everyone! It’s been a couple of days since I last blogged.
Last week I made a very tasty and healthy Lentil & Escarole Soup from the Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen Cookbook.
I have been wanting to try this soup for so long and I am glad I did. It had a very nice taste to it and the lentils created a nice thick broth which I loved. I don’t usually cook with lentils that much but this soup inspired me to use more lentils in my cooking! I recently got these awesome vegetable broth concentrated packets from Trader Joe’s and I must say they rock! They will definitely be used a lot in my kitchen! They made this soup taste really good without the trouble of making a vegetable broth from scracth.
On Saturday, I made another awesome dish that I have been wanting to make for so long! I made the awesome Tofu Florentine from Veganomicon!
I though this was very fancy in my option from what I normally eat for breakfast/brunch. The cheesy sauce rocks, I made mine with extra lemon. I just love lemon, I always find my self using more than the recipe says. I like how it gives food a nice light taste. The broiled tofu used for the Florentine was really good, next time I would probably reduce the water for the basting liquid so the tofu is more concentrated with the soy sauce-lemon flavor. I am so glad I found vegan English muffins! I looked for them in my regular supermarket and they had milk in them, but when I went to Trader Joe’s I found some awesome ones. This is definitely going to be a brunch regular!
Here are some tester blondies from Isa and Terry’s upcoming cookie book! These were really tasty!
Here’s my awesome and healthy green smoothie that I made tonight!
I have just gotten into the whole green smoothie thing. The first one I made was awful, as I was low on fruit. Then I started experimenting and made a great tasting green smoothie! This one was really good! For this one I used some leftover Escarole from the lentil soup that I made earlier, spinach leaves, a carrot, a banana, a couple of strawberries and blueberries, celery, parsley, pears, orange juice, and flax seeds. This blend makes a great tasting green smoothie and it is super healthy and makes you energized! Some of them may not look that good but the amount of vitamins you get from these is worth it! My family thinks it weird drinking green smoothies but I just tell them that you don’t know what your missing! It’s so good as long as you have a perfect balance of fruit and vegetables. I suggest everyone try a green smoothie, you’ll like it. Just try different combinations and see which one you like. Your body will thank you for sure!
Alright everyone, blog to you soon in a few days!
Hey Blog, I'm Back! January 28, 2009
Posted by Jay in Beans, Brunch, Vegan With A Vengeance, Veganomicon Recipes.3 comments
Hey everyone! How have you all been? It’s a bit late to say this but Happy New Year to everyone! I have been out for so long. I missed a lot! I took a whole lot of time off from blogging, I don’t know how it happened. I took many pictures of food that I cooked I guess to lazy to blog about them. couldn’t take it any more, I just had to start blogging again! Hopefully I will not stop blogging again from now on, I really hope I don’t!
I have started testing recipes for Isa and Terry’s upcoming Cookie Book. So far I have made the Brownies from the new book. These brownies tasted really really good. This is just how a brownie is supposed to taste like! The next following weeks I am going to be testing the last of cookies that are left to test. I am really excited!
Here are the brownies from the Isa and Terry’s upcoming Cookie Book. This book is going to be amazing!
Earlier this week, for the first time I made burgers! I made the Veganomicon Black Bean Burgers. The black bean burgers were really tasty! I used a fry and bake method for them because I wasn’t sure they would firm up from frying. I think it was because I put to much water. Next time I would probably reduce the amount of water for these. So anyway after I fried them until they were golden about 3 minutes per side, I baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes until they were nice and firm to the touch. To accompany the burgers I made some sweet potato fries which I spiked up with some chili powder. The fries were really good…this was my first time I made sweet potato fries so I was really excited about them! These black-bean burgers have inspired me to make more burgers from now on!
These burgers are awesome!
Here are some Ginger Pear Waffles from vwav that I made earlier today. These waffles were really tasty and had nice spice from them which I enjoyed. I wish there was a little more pear flavor in the waffles but I used apple cider instead of the pear juice as I didn’t have pear juice. Next time I think I will take Isa’s tip and fold in crystallized ginger in the waffles. Imagine how good that would be!
Wow..It’s been really fun writing this post! I am really trilled to be apart of this awesome blogging community once again!
My Thanksgiving Feast December 2, 2008
Posted by Jay in Thanksgivng.5 comments
Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I have posted something up on my blog. I took a break for a while as I didn’t have much time to blog. I am so glad I am back! I hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving! My Thanksgiving was very enjoying. I basically spent the whole month of November thinking about Thanksgivng and testing recipes for the big day. When it all happened it was very fun! I cooked and baked everything expect the turkey that the rest of my family had. It was really fun cooking all day. I just cooked and baked for two days straight!! Here is what I made for Thanksgivng: We started out with a tasty Butternut Squash Soup with Sage Cream. We also had a nice salad of fresh baby greens. Then we had some very awesome sides like Mashed Parsnips and Potatoes, Coconut Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Cornbread Stuffing from the PPK, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Vinegar and Sauteed Green Beans with Cherry Tomatoes. I also made Mushroom Gravy from V’con and Cranberry Sauce also from V’con. The main course that I made was an awesome Vegan Roast. The Roast was very good and I was happy that many tried it!! For the Roast I took Bryanna’s recipe and Vegan Dad’s recipe and give it my own twist. I will be posting the recipe tomorrow. My mom and I also made Spinach Pie A.K.A Spanokipita. I wanted to make some Acorn Squash but we ran out of time! For desert we had Smlove Pie from V’con which was amazing! We also had Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie. The best part was all the complements I received from everyone! Here are some pictures! Some of the pictures may not be top quality has I was kind of in a rush taking them. Not everything is pictured.
The Table- Not everything is pictured
Cranberry Sauce and Mushroom Gravy
Butternut Squash Soup
Holiday Roast
Smlove Pie from V’con
Apple Pie, I had to take it out of the pie pan so I can make the Smlove pie, so it kinda fell apart.
Perfect Fall Dinner- Panfried Tempeh with Mushroom Ragout, Stuffed Acorn Squash and Apple Pie and Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake November 14, 2008
Posted by Jay in Apples, Desserts, My Recipes, Squash, Tempeh, Veganomicon Recipes, Vegetables.5 comments
This week I made some really tasty things!! The inspiration for this week’s dinner came from Isa’s Blog. For the House of Dreams benefit dinner, Isa made Temeph over Kale, with mushroom ragout, and stuffed acorn squash. I really wish I was in Portland so I could have went to this dinner. I decided to recreate what Isa made myself based on that photo. I made the best tempeh I ever tasted! It was so tasty. I made a simple marinade to marinade the tempeh in and I boiled it in a soy sauce and water mixture which I think really helped the flavor. I then panfried it until nice and golden! I served the tempeh was a mushroom ragout which really complemented the tempeh. I also had spinach under the tempeh. Here’s the recipe for the tempeh and mushroom ragout below.
Pan Fried Tempeh, Mushroom Ragout, Stuffed Acorn Squash and Garlicky Spianch
Panfried Tempeh
Serves about 4
Ingredients:
For the marinade
3/4 cup white wine or vegetable broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce plus 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
half a lemon squeezed
2 garlic cloves
2-3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Pepper to taste
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 packages of tempeh
Olive Oil for frying
Cut each block of tempeh in to 4 triangles. First cut it across in the middle then cut the two squares diagonally, into triangles.
Bring a pot of water to boil and add some soy sauce to it about 2-3 tablespoons to the water. Add the tempeh and boil on medium for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine all the other ingredients for the marinade.
After 10 minutes add the tempeh to the marinate and marinate for about an hour or more if you want.
After it has marinated, heat a pan over medium high heat with olive oil for pan-frying.
Pan Fry the tempeh until golden about 2-3 minutes per side.
Mushroom Ragout
Ingredients
1 pound of cremini mushrooms thinly sliced
About half a cup of white wine or vegetable broth
1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste
2-3 medium Shallots minced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
A pinch of dried thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive Oil
Heat a pan with olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and saute for about 5-8 minutes, until they are translucent. Add the herbs and tomato paste. Then add the mushrooms and wine or vegetable broth and saute for about 8-10 minutes until the mushrooms have reduced. If it seems a little dry add more wine/vegetable broth. Season with Salt and Pepper.
For my acorn squash, I used Isa’s recipe for Cornbread Stuffing with Pears and Pecans and just substituted some ingredients based on what I had. For example I use rosemary instead of thyme, apples instead of pears, and shallots instead of onions. I also added some carrots and celery and omitted the celery seed. Oh and I halved the recipe. I really suggest Isa’s recipe for cornbread stuffing, it was so tasty! I will defiantly make this stuffing for Thanksgiving! Now let’s talk about the acorn squash itself. It was my first time having acorn squash. I was very surprised with the taste, it tasted so different from the other squashes. It was good but I think next time I will roast it with earth balance and maple syrup for extra goodness!
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I also made some awesome baked goods this week. I made a really awesome bundt cake from Veganomicon. I made the Coconut- Lemon Bundt cake. This bundt cake was so moist and full of lemony and coconut flavor! I think it was the most moist cake when I have ever had. I will defiantly make this again!
Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake
I made my very first apple pie! It came out really good! I even made a lattice crust for it. The only thing I will probaly do next time is reduce the spices I used in the apple filling. I need to work a bit more on my crust though. This apple pie went really fast. I only had a slice and I wanted more!! I can’t wait to make this again for Thanksgiving.
Apple Pie
Rosemary Scented-Butternut Squash Risotto and Oatmeal Cookies November 9, 2008
Posted by Jay in Cookies, My Recipes, Rice, Veganomicon Recipes, Vegetables.Tags: Butternut Squash Risotto, Oatmeal Cookies
2 comments
This fall I made a resolution to try all the winter squashes out there. Last year I didn’t cook much with squash, so this year I really want to master cooking winter squash! I already made something with butternut squash for Vegan MoFo. I made the Butternut Squash Lasagna with Cashew Cream. When we went to the supermarket we bought 3 butternut squashes, 2 acorn squashes, and one pumpkin. Last night I used one butternut squash to make a wonderful Rosemary Scented- Butternut Squash Risotto. The result was amazing. The Rosemary gave the risotto a complex flavor. Sage would have also worked in this risotto. The butternut squash were roasted until tender and then cooked for a bit in the risotto. I love making risotto! My favorite thing is stirring it, I think that’s awesome! My mom was a big fan of this risotto, she had like 3 servings! I think I am going to make this for Thanksgiving. This is a great dish to serve in the fall! Here’s the recipe.
Rosemary Scented Butternut Squash Risotto
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash peeled and cut into cubes
5.5 cups vegetable broth
3/4 cups chopped shallots
1 rosemary spring
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine ( I use Ariel Non Alcoholic Wine, from Trader Joe’s)
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon Earth Balance (Optional)
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Prep the squash and then place it on a baking pan. Toss it with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 35 minutes or until tender.
Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth
In a heavy bottomed pot, heat about 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the shallots and garlic and sautee for about 8 minutes, until translucent but not browned. Add the rice and sautee for about 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add the rosemary spring. Now add a ladle or two of vegetable broth and stir. Cook until the risotto starts to become a bit dry. Keep adding a 2 ladles of vegetable broth. Stir every 2 minutes or so. When the rice is 3/4 of the way done add the butternut squash. Cook until the rice is al dente. It should take about 30 minutes. Off the heat you can melt about 1 tablespoon of Earth Balance into the risotto for extra richness.
A couple of days ago I made the Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Veganomicon. At first I wasn’t crazy about them but the next day they were really good! I ate like 10 in one sitting. Next time I would probaly reduce the spices just a bit, I though they slightly overpowered the cookies. That was the only problem, other than these cookies were good!
Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Pecan Crusted Seitan with Creamy Mustard Sauce, Asparagas and Coconut Mashed Sweet Potatoes November 5, 2008
Posted by Jay in My Recipes, Seitan, Side Dishes, The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen Cookbook, Veganomicon Recipes, Vegetables.Tags: asparagas, coconut mashed sweet potatoes, pecan crusted seitan, Seitan
8 comments
Hey everyone! Yesterday I made Pecan Crusted Seitan and I served with my leftover Creamy Cashew Mustard Cream Sauce and Coconut Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Asparagus in Orange Sauce from the Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen Cookbook. This month I am sampling some dishes I want to serve on Thanksgiving. I am post likely going to serve this Pecan Crusted Seitan or a Seitan Roast for thanksgiving. And I am defiantly serving the mashed sweet potatoes and possibly the asparagus. This dinner was really good, every thing shined on the plate! I really liked the texture of the seitan, it has been one of the few successful seitans I have made. I used the recipe for the seitan cutlets from veganomicon, I just added some nooch and that’s it. The seitan cutlets had a great texture. It was so tender, I didn’t even need a knife! I think I can officially say that I like seitan! I think the only thing I would change is flavor them a bit more when I baked them probably use some herbs or something. Anyway, I then marinaded them in a simple marinade consisting of soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and wine. I then breaded them in a Pecan Rosemary Panko mixture. Frying was a bit of a pain because some of the cutlets slighty burned, I don’t know why. The oil got too hot and the cutlets browned very quickly. Then, I also made mashed sweet potatoes for the first time but I gave it a little twist! I used coconut milk instead of soy milk, and wow the coconut and the sweet potatoes were amazing together! I usually just roast asparagus but I was looking for a little something new so I grabbed my Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen Cookbook and I saw this great recipe for asparagusin orange sauce. It was really simple to make just take some fresh orange juice, wine, and vegetable broth and reduce it. I boiled the asparagus and then poured the sauce over it. At the end I had an awesome meal!
Pecan Crusted Seitan with Creamy Mustard Sauce, Coconut Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Asparagus in Orange Sauce
Here’s the recipe for the Pecan Crusted Seitan, Coconut Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Asparagus in Orange Sauce
Pecan Crusted Seitan
Serves 4-5
These Pecan Crusted Seitan Cutlets are awesome. They are a great main course to serve while entertaining. They would be perfect for a Holiday party! These are great served them with the Cashew Mustard Cream Sauce, but you can serve them with any sauce you wish.
Ingredients:
For the marinade
1/4 Cups Olive Oil
4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1/3 cup white wine or vegetable broth
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
half a lemon squeezed
3 garlic cloves minced
For the breading mixture
1 1/4 cup pecans
3 tablespoons panko
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
Salt and Pepper to taste
5 seitan cutlets (I used the recipe from V’con)
Oil for Pan Frying
Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Place the seitan in a small casserole dish or ziplock bag and pour the marinade over it. Marinade it for about an hour in the fridge.
After one hour, start making the pecan mixture. Pour the mixture into a bowl. Dip a seitan cutlet in the marinade and then bread it with the pecans. Make sure to press the pecans well into the seitan cutlet. Repeat with all of them.
Heat a pan over medium heat with oil. You need just enough oil to pan fry, you are not deep frying. Pan fry the seitan until nice and golden.
Coconut Mashed Sweet Potatoes
The mashed Sweet Potatoes are perfect to serve anywhere where regular mashed potatoes are served. They would be perfect for Thanksgiving!
Serves 4-5 people
3 medium sized Sweet Potatoes peeled and cubed into large pieces
Half a cup of coconut milk
3 tablespoons Earth Balance
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Salt and Pepper to taste
Heat a pot of water. Add the sweet potatoes. Then salt them generously with salt. Bring it to a low boil. Cook until the sweet potatoes are tender. When the sweet potatoes are done drain them. Add them back to the pot. Add the maple syrup, Earth Balance, and coconut milk. Mash until nice and fluffy.
Asparagus in Orange Sauce
From the Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen Cookbook
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of pencil thin asparagus, trimmed
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Bring a pot of water to boil. Boil the asparagus for 3 minutes. Run them through cold water.
Meanwhile, combine the orange juice, wine, and broth and bring it to a boil, reduce to 1/4 cup. Pour over the asparagus, and then season with salt and pepper.
Today I made the Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from V’con. I will post the pictures hopefully tomorrow.
Pumpkin Waffles and Pistachio Crusted Tofu with Creamy Cashew Mustard Cream Sauce November 4, 2008
Posted by Jay in Brunch, My Recipes, Rice, The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen Cookbook, Tofu, Vegan With A Vengeance.Tags: Pistachio Crusted Tofu, Pumpkin Waffles, Vegan With A Vengeance
14 comments
Today for dinner, I made the most awesome Tofu I have ever made besides the Chile Cornmeal Tofu which was also awesome. I made Pistachio Crusted Tofu which I was dying to make for so so long. I am glad I finally got to it and created a recipe for it. I was so happy at the result, my brother (a.k.a. my toughest food critic) liked them, he said they were really good. The only thing I would change is add just a bit more pistachios to the breading mixture. By the way pistachios are extremely addictive, I love them so much. I also had some Garlicky Kale and Lemon Provicenal Rice from the Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen Cookbook. I served the tofu with a Mustard Cashew Cream Sauce which complicated the tofu so well. I finally figured out an awesome to replace heavy cream in sauces, its really simple, just combine some cashews and soy milk together and then just put it in whatever recipe you are making. The cashews add a great richness to the soy milk. Here’s the recipe for the Pistachio Crusted Tofu and Mustard Cashew Cream Sauce.
Pistachio Crusted Tofu With A Creamy Cashew Mustard Cream Sauce
Pistachio Crusted Tofu
Ingredients:
For the Basic Tofu Marinade
2-3 tablespoons Soy Sauce
half a lemon squeezed
Splash of White Wine ( I use Ariel Non Alcoholic Wine)
1 pound of Extra-Firm Tofu cut into 8 picuies lengthwide pressed and drained
For the Breading Mixture
1/2 cup of pistachios shelled finely chopped (This is what I put originally but I would increase by 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup Panko or Breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
A pinch of salt and a couple of grinds of pepper
4-5 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
Mix the ingredients for the marinade into a bowl. Then brush on to the tofu and marinade it for about 15-30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Grind the pistachios in a food processor until crumbs form. Mix the breading ingredients together.
In a small bowl add the Dijon mustard. Brush the tofu with the Dijon mustard and then bread it in the breading mixture.
Bake it for about 15 minutes until golden, if you want put it under the broiler for 3-5 minutes for extra chewiness.
Meanwhile make the sauce (recipe follows)
Cashew Mustard Cream Sauce
Ingredients
1 cup Plain Soy milk
2/4 cups preferably raw cashews
4 Tablespoons Dijon mustard or more if you like
1 Tablespoon Whole Grain mustard
1 shallot minced
1 garlic clove minced
2 Tablespoons Chopped parsley
A Splash of White Wine (Optional)
Half a tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
In a food processor, blend the cashews and soy milk until very smooth.
Heat a sauce pan to medium heat, and add the garlic and shallot. Saute for 2 minutes. Then add the cashew cream and the two types of mustard and blend together. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for about 4 minutes. This thickens up fairly quick. Season with Salt and Pepper. Add the lemon and parsley and that’s it. Now you can use this to top any protein dish like tofu, seitan, tempeh, and even the great chickpea cutlets!!!
