Every week at the farmer’s market, I find myself picking up a head of cauliflower and a head of broccoli.  The stand that I like to visit often has a “3 for $5″ deal going by the end of the market, which is about the time I generally get there.  Not wanting to pass up the deal, I snag the same things every week.  So after grabbing the broccoli and cauliflower again this week (I go on Saturdays and Wednesdays, so I always seem to have broccoli and cauliflower!), I asked Google what I should do with it.

I came across this recipe for Tandoori Kebabs and thought I could very easily make it vegan.  Also, I don’t have a grill and I liked that the recipe said I could broil these instead of grilling.  And these turned out so good that there were no leftovers!  My husband really liked them– although, I’m not so sure if he really liked them or if he was just really hungry.  The next time I make these, I will probably double the amounts for the spices.  These were extremely mild in terms of both heat and spice and I may even add some cayenne pepper next time.  I did make a couple of changes this time around:

• I omitted the tomatoes and used those on a side green salad instead.
• I added super firm tofu cubes to the kebab for some extra protein.
• Instead of dairy yogurt, I used plain coconut milk yogurt.
• I also forgot to put salt in the marinade… I definitely do not recommend skipping that step!

Like I said above, we had ours with a side salad and a little bit of basmati rice.  I would have preferred brown basmati rice, but was all out.

While watching the Food Network the other day, I was inspired by one of the dishes that Giada was making. She made these individual lasagne and I thought I could do the same, but make them vegan. The dish was a surprising success!  Also, you could prepare these ahead of time, like over the weekend, and throw them in the oven for a quick weeknight meal.  Just be sure to let them come to room temperature before baking.  Putting a cold ramekin into a hot oven probably isn’t a good idea.

For mine, I used some spinach lasagna noodles that my cousin-in-law brought back for me from Argentina. These noodles are wider and shorter than normal lasagna noodles, so I cut them in half to give me two longer, skinnier pieces. Also, my noodles are the “no boil” type, but since they need to be soft for this dish, I soaked them for a few minutes in some hot water. I bet you could take a similar approach with regular “no boil” noodles or use the boil type and cook per package directions.

The tofu ricotta that I used in mine are based on this recipe, but I changed the recipe just a tad.  Here’s how I made mine:

Tofu Basil Ricotta

1/2 lb tofu, packed in water (use the kind that comes in those twin packs and just use one side)

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 TB nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp. salt

15 large basil leaves

Pat the tofu dry and add it and the rest of the ingredients to your food processor.  Process until completely smooth.

Step 1: Begin by preheating the oven to 425 degrees.  Liberally grease your ramekin dishes and place them on a baking sheet.  Take one noodle and layer it in the bottom of the dish so that the edges of the noodle hang over the edge of the dish (again, since my noodles were wider and shorter than normal noodles, I overlapped the two pieces at the bottom):

Step 2:  Place another noodle in the bottom of the dish, but the in opposite direction to form a “X” in the bottom of the dish.  Top with a generous amount of tofu ricotta (recipe above– I put mine in a piping bag to make it easier to dispense into each dish):

Step 3:  Put a generous amount of marinara sauce on top of the tofu ricotta.  I used about 3 TB.  Top that with a layer of sliced zucchini (or other vegetable of your choice– eggplant slices or spinach leaves would be yumy).

Step 4:  Fold over one set of the noodle edges.

Step 5:  Top with a little bit more tofu ricotta (not as much as used in Step 2; maybe half that amount).  Top with about 1 more TB of marinara and more zucchini slices.

Step 6: Fold over last set of noodle edges.  Top with another TB of marinara and vegan mozzarella of your choosing.  I used Diaya, which I had been keeping in my freezer (just to explain why it looks a little funny in the photo).

Step 7:  Bake uncovered at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the sauce is bubbly.

Step 8:  Allow to cool for a few minutes, then use a large spoon to scoop it out of the ramekin and place onto a plate.

Yes!  A new recipe!!!!

I made this for dinner last night and it was SO EASY to make and was also really flavorful (and my kid ate it with minimal complaining).  Feel free to add whatever veggies and fruit you like or have on hand.  It’s a great use-up for those that may be on their way to the compost bin, if ya know what I mean.  Grapes or nectarines would be a really yummy addition.

Easy Peasy Creamy Pasta Salad

2 cups dry pasta, any shape

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 cup peas, frozen

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup cucumber, seeded and diced

Dressing:

1/3 cup vegan mayo of your choosing (I use Vegenaise)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)

S&P to taste

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  When boiling, salt the water and add the pasta.  I used penne, which took about 9 minutes to cook through.  When your pasta has about 3-4 minutes left on it’s cooking time, add the carrots to the boiling water.  When it has about 2 minutes left, add the peas.  Cook until the pasta is tender, then drain and rinse with cold water.

While your pasta is cooking, whisk together the dressing ingredients in the bottom of a large bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and the pasta/carrot/pea mixture once it has been drained and rinsed.  Toss to coat with the dressing and refrigerate until ready to eat.  If the dressing made just enough to cover everything, you may want to consider making a little extra since the pasta will absorb it and your leftovers may be a tad dry the next day.

To go with our pasta salad, I made Tofu Fish Sticks from Vegan Lunch Box.  These are so simple to make and are really good.  While the texture isn’t quite the same as I remember real fish sticks being, the taste is spot on.  I made a quick tartar sauce to dip them in by mixing some Vegenaise with sweet pickle relish.  Really, could our meal have been any simpler to prepare?!  I love easy (and relatively inexpensive) meals like this one.

The pasta salad could even stand alone as a meal itself, if paired with a simple green salad or something.  It’s got good protein in there from the beans and peas (yep, peas are pretty high in protein), as well as a good mix of veggies.  Like I mentioned above, the addition of some fruit would be really good.  When my mom made pasta salad when I was a kid, she always added grapes or nectarines and it was so good.  Seriously, you have to try it!

What’s this? A new recipe??! Wow!

I actually cooked something last night… from scratch! I know, shocking! Ever since I started baking a ton, I haven’t been cooking too often. Yesterday was my munchkin’s 4th birthday and for her special birthday dinner, she requested tofu (plain), rice and artichokes. She got her wish, but I felt I needed to jazz it up a bit for my husband and I. We also had steamed artichokes and rice, but I decided to glaze our tofu with teriyaki sauce. It turned out really good… and because I didn’t have any bottled teriyaki sauce, I had to make my own. It’s so easy too! I don’t think I’ll ever buy a bottle of it ever again.

Teriyaki Glazed Tofu and Green Beans

1 lb. tofu (or other plant protein of your choice), cubed

2 cups green beans, either fresh or frozen

1 recipe teriyaki sauce (you will have some leftover)

Toasted sesame seeds for garnish, optional

In a large skillet, preheat a few tablespoons of canola, vegetable or peanut oil over medium-high heat.  When the oil is hot, add the tofu making sure it is completely dry before adding to the hot oil.  Cook on one or two sides until golden brown then remove from pan.  If there is a lot of oil leftover from cooking the tofu, wash out your pan.  Add the green beans and a few tablespoons of water.  Cover and let them steam for a few minutes.  When cooked, drain any remaining water and add the tofu back to the pan.  Glaze with the teriyaki and cook a minute or so longer.  Garnish with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.

Doesn’t it look so tasty?  I got this yummy recipe in my inbox the other day from the VegNews Magazine recipe club e-newsletter.  Even though I have yet to try any of their recipes, they all look and sound so good.  I’ve been trying to concoct my own vegan meatloaf, but have not have much luck in getting it to stick together like a loaf and not crumble into itty bitty bits.  To be honest, I’ve only given it one try.  This recipe, though, sounds like a winner (and it’s soy-free if you use soy-free margarine!!). I’m definitely going to try this recipe the next time I get a craving for a loaf, although I may sub cooked quinoa for the brown rice.  What a great dish to serve on Thanksgiving!

Serves 4

What You Need:

1/2 cup tomato paste
3 tablespoons tamari, divided
1 tablespoon dark agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons garlic, minced and divided
4 tablespoons non-hydrogenated margarine, divided
1 cup onion, chopped and divided
1 cup portabello mushrooms, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrot, finely diced
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup cooked brown rice
2 cups cooked French lentils
1-1/2 teaspoons vegan Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, minced
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a small loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside. In a small bowl, combine the tomato paste, 2 tablespoons tamari, agave, liquid smoke, and 1 tablespoon garlic. Set aside.

2. In a large skillet over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons margarine and 1/2 cup onions. Sauté 5 minutes. Add the portabello mushrooms, and sauté for 7 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl. Add remaining 2 tablespoons margarine to the skillet and sauté celery, carrot, remaining 2 teaspoons garlic, salt, and pepper over low heat. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. In a food processor, pulse rice and lentils 10 times, then transfer to a large bowl. In the food processor, pulse cooked vegetables, Worcestershire sauce, remaining tamari, mustard, parsley, arrowroot, and 1/3 cup of the tomato topping 10 times, then add vegetable mixture to rice and lentils. Fold in reserved sautéed onions and mushrooms, breadcrumbs, and the 1/2 cup chopped onion.

4. Press half of the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and spread the top with half of the tomato topping. Then, press the rest of the mixture into the pan, and coat with the remaining tomato topping. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes until top is browned. Remove from oven, and cool for 20 minutes before serving.

We celebrated my friend, Brianne’s, birthday this last weekend. She had been craving Underdog for quite some time, so she picked some up for us to make at her new place. Here’s Underdog in a nutshell:

UNDERDOG – “The Organic Sausage Joint” is exactly just that. we are a restaurant that serves grilled organic meat and vegetarian sausages on lightly toasted gourmet organic buns. you can dress your sausage anyway you like at our self-serve organic condiment stand. we also offer organic salads, desserts, sodas, juices, drinks, chips, snacks, and candies. Everything we sell is made with natural and organic ingredients. We will never sell anything that contains gmo’s, artificial preservatives, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, transfats, or high fructose corn syrup. We conduct business in ways that make the least negative impact on our planet by trying to always use packaging, supplies, and disposables made from either recycled paper and/or biodegradable products made from renewable and sustainable resources like corn, potatoes, bamboo, or sugar cane. We recycle as much as we can and encourage you to do the same. We try to always only use non-toxic and biodegradable cleaners. We donate a portion of our profits to local charities. We are the UNDERDOG!

While I’ve never been to the shop, I can highly recommend them based on Brianne’s recommendation and based on trying them at her house this weekend.  They were awesome!  Underdog is located at :

1634 Irving Street San Francisco, CA. 94122
(Between 17th and 18th Avenue, Inner Sunset)

I tried the Veggie Italian and the Veggie-Dog.  Both were really good– so good that I can’t choose a favorite.  I would eat both again.

I made dessert (of course!) and since Brianne doesn’t like cake, she requested Mexican Wedding Cookies.  I couldn’t stop there, so I made a Birthday Dessert Platter of Mexican Wedding Cookies, low-fat Zucchini Brownies and fresh strawberries.  I’ll be offering these through my bakery… if I ever get the website up and running.  I have the domain, just not the time to actually get the website looking good.  That sort of explains my absence lately… business has really picked up and I’m a little worried that it’s taking off faster than I can keep up.  I just need a few more hours each day to get it all done!

Last night, I suddenly realized that it was dinner time and I needed to whip something up quick.  The fridge was running on empty and I still had half of the 6-pound zucchini to use.  Pretty much the only dinner item in the fridge was some tofu, which made me think of VeganDad’s Memphis BBQ Tofu.  And if I was going to go to the trouble of grilling the tofu, why not grill the zucchini too?!  Oh, and speaking of VeganDad, he’s hosting a “guess the gadget” giveaway which runs until July 6.  You could win a copy of his cookbook.

Back to the food…  The tofu was freakin’ awesome!  Like seriously, seriously good.  Even a non-tofu lover would like this stuff.  I used super firm tofu, put on the dry rub, then grilled it on my indoor grill.  After it was grilled on both sides, I coated it very generously with BBQ sauce (Bull’s Eye brand… sorry, but I love it and am too lazy to make my own  from scratch), then put it in a baking dish in a 300 degree oven while I grilled the zucchini.  I had the leftovers on top of a salad for dinner tonight and it was unbelievably good!

The zucchini was a different story… the thing was just too big to be worth eating as a zucchini should be eaten.  The seeds were huge– like the size of pumpkin seeds– and the flesh was super fibrous and tough.  These big guys are best for baking, but I still ate it to set a good example.

Start to finish, this meal probably only took 15 minutes to throw together.  If I had had a larger grill, it would have taken half that.  And did I mention that the tofu was awesome?!! 

Tempeh:

is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. It is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but tempeh is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempeh’s fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber and vitamins compared to tofu, as well as firmer texture and stronger flavor. Tofu, by contrast, is said to be more versatile in dishes. Because of its nutritional value, tempeh is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue.

Until last Friday, I’m not sure that I had ever eaten it before.  I had picked up a package of it about a month ago and figured I should use it before it expired.  There’s a recipe for teriyaki marinated tempeh in Vegan Planet that sounded good. I whipped up some chow mein to go with it, following my fried rice recipe and subbing cooked chow mein noodles for the rice.

I bet you’re wondering what I thought of it, aren’t you?  Well, I have to say that I prefer the taste and texure of tofu to tempeh.  Tempeh is not at all meaty and chewy like I’d expected it to be.  It’s sort of soft and really has no taste at all.  It wasn’t disgusting and if I were out some place where tempeh was the only vegetarian option, I’d eat it.  But I don’t know that I would ever make it at home again.  No one was really wild about it.  My chow mein was awesome, though.

I love soy-rizo.  I’ve found it at my local grocery store, as well as at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.  If you’re missing something meaty, try this stuff out.  It will definitely satisfy your craving.  Having said that, this stuff is pretty high in fat and I’m not much into processed soy foods (like fake deli meats, fake chicken nuggets, hot dogs, etc), so things like this soy-rizo are occasional treats in my house.

I had some sitting in my freezer and the other night, I decided to whip up a taco filling with it.  After sauteeing a little onion and garlic, I added in the defrosted soy-rizo and browned it up a little.  Then I put in a can of cannellini beans, some crushed red pepper flakes and a little bit of dried oregano.  Oh yeah, I also made homemade tortillas. 

Not the most appetizing photo, I know, but these were delicious!  And homemade tortillas are much easier to make than they sound.  After looking up a recipe on the internet, I finally came across one that didn’t use shortening.  Not that I’m against shortening (non-hydrogenated, of course) for things like frosting, but it’s not something I want to eat everyday.  Anyway, I’ve made a few changes to the tortilla recipe that I found, so here it is:

Almost Whole Wheat Tortillas

(click here for a printer-friendly version)

3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (not whole wheat pastry)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1/2 + 1/8 cup warm water

Mix ingredients. Knead a few times then separate into 8 equal parts (cut in half, then in half again (to make quarters), then cut each quarter in half). Roll into balls then cover and let sit for 10 minutes.  Heat a large (ungreased) pan over medium-high heat. Using a rolling pin, roll balls out into 6-8 inch flat tortillas. These will puff as they cook, so roll them out as thin as you can.  Cook one at a time in the pan until the top bubbles, indicating that it’s time to flip them (just like pancakes).

For those of you unsure of what to do with tofu, think it’s weird or think you don’t like it, you’ll have to try the recipe for Blackened Tofu from ED&BV. I’ve never tried the recipe before, but it turned out great. While it was cooking, it sort of had a slight fishy smell to it (not in a gross fishy way, but like I was cooking fish) and I found it had a meaty quality while eating it. I’ll definitely be making this again! If you don’t have the book and would like to try it, here is a recipe for a very similar spice mix for the tofu.  Be sure to use extra firm tofu (it usually comes in the vacuum-sealed packs, not packed in water).

Believe it or not, Emma helped me make this whole meal.  After putting away all of the silverware out of the dishwasher (and she actually put them in their proper slots), she helped me measure all of the spices for the spice mix and wash and chop the potatoes.  It went much smoother than I thought it would and she really enjoyed herself.  I think we’ll be cooking together more often.  She even enjoyed washing the dishes.  I know that won’t last for long, so I’ll take advantage of her services while I can.

Alongside the tofu, we made some mashed potatoes.  Since I used organic pototoes, I left the skins on mine.  If you aren’t using organic, you’ll want to peel them since potatoes are one of the dirty dozen.  After srubbing and chopping, I boiled them up.  During the last 2 or 3 minutes of cooking, I threw in a big handful of chopped kale.  When the potatoes are tender, drain them and return them to the pot.  At this point, I threw in a big handful of chopped spinach.  Mash with whatever add-ins you like– we used rice milk, a little Earth Balance and some Tofutti sour cream.  These were super good.