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.

I love spring rolls and I make them a lot, especially during the summer when fruits and veggies are so abundant.  Last night, I decided to make them again, but with a neat, calorie-reducing twist.

Instead of using the rice wrappers, I went with a leaf of napa cabbage.  Napa cabbage is a little more delicate than red or green cabbage with a texture sort of like a hearty lettuce leaf.  It was the perfect “wrap” for our rolls.  Inside the rolls, I used some lightly blanched broccoli (I don’t care for raw broccoli so I had to cook it a little), some grated carrots, radishes, cilantro and mint, and tofu.  Emma even helped with the dinner preparation by pulling all the mint leaves off of the stem!

On the side, I boiled up some soba noodles and topped them with the extra tofu that I had cut up.  The dressing that I made for the rolls and noodles is a peanut flavored one, instead of being peanut based.  I didn’t measure anything at all.  I threw stuff into a bowl and adjusted it until it tasted right, so sorry for not having a real recipe.  I’ll tell you what I used and you can fiddle around with your own concoction:  soy sauce (probably about 1-2 TB), Thai sweet chili sauce (~2 tsp), garlic powder (~1/4 tsp), fresh ginger, grated (~1/4 tsp), toasted sesame oil (drizzle), peanut butter (~1 tsp).  It was really good, peanut-y without being overly heavy with peanut butter.  And even though I’ve sworn off noddles, bread and rice until I drop a few pounds, at least the soba noodles are wheat and my portion was itty bitty.

While I’m on the subject of peanut butter, I want to tell you all about a new one I just tried.  I’m perfectly happy with natural peanut butter– the stuff you have to stir and then refrigerate.  If you’re going to be eating peanut butter, it’s probably the best stuff (be sure to always buy organic peanut butter).  Anyway, I saw this stuff and thought I’d try it, even though it isn’t organic.  It’s a no stir, natural peanut butter from Earth Balance.  It’s soft like how I remember Skippy or Jif being and is good, but I don’t think it’s any better tasting than the natural kind.  Maybe just more convenient because it spreads more easily.  If my choices were between Skippy and Earth Balance, I would definitely opt for the Earth Balance brand simply because all those hydrogenated oils are like a death sentence.  Did you know that people who eat hydrogenated oils are more likely to have health issues than people who don’t?  Back to the butter:  I don’t know that I’d ever buy this again, only because it’s not organic.  With all the weird things sprayed on foods to prevent naturally occuring processes (like molding and pest infestations), I’m not willing to eat the weird stuff just to have peanut butter that doesn’t separate.

This weekend was all about keeping things light and healthy.  Lots of veggies and grains– filling things that aren’t packed with tons of calories.  Actually, we ate some form of a wrap for lunch and dinner Saturday and Sunday and I have more planned for the week. For Christmas, I was the lucky recipient of several cookbooks, one of which influenced my weekend wraps.

The first is I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude from Cafe Gratitude in San Francisco. A good friend of mine, Brianne, introduced me to this place and I love it! It’s a bit on the pricey side, but you have to remember that you’re filling up on good food and good food is often more expensive than bad (don’t expect $1 cheeseburgers here!). Anyway, I was so happy to get their book because now I can make that stuff at home.

For my first attempt at Raw food preparation (I guess you can’t really call it “cooking,” can you?!) I went for the marinated vegetable recipe because it was one that didn’t involve fancy machinery like a food dehydrator. You take a combination of vegetables– I used carrots, radishes, zucchini and grated broccoli stems– and marinate them in garlic, ginger, cilantro, and lemon juice. Amazingly enough, the recipe can be found here.  Flip through the rest of the preview, this book is great even though some of the other recipes are a bit complicated.

I opted to wrap the veggies in a romaine lettuce leaf because (1) it’s a lot easier than making their spinach tortilla recipe and (2) I had them in the fridge!  One thing that I changed to the recipe is that I used about a teaspoon of cold pressed flax oil in place of the olive oil because I didn’t want to use 2 TB as the recipe suggests and I wanted to get more Omega 3 bang for my fat and calorie buck.  These were great and I will definitely make them again.  You get great flavor from the garlic, ginger, and cilantro and very few calories.  I even made the Jalapeno Mint Chutney to go with it, but thought the wraps were better without it.

For lunch on Sunday, I made a Tofurkey wrap. I’ve made these lots of times using whole wheat lavash, but thought I could save myself the 110 calories by wrapping it up in a romaine lettuce leaf. It wasn’t quite as good, but was still tasty. I could definitely get used to wrapping things up in a lettuce or cabbage leaf instead of bread. I’m sure it’s much better for my waistline too.

Not real chicken, but delicious nonetheless.  I took about 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs and mixed in about 1/3 cup of fine ground cornmeal.  To coat the chicken, dregde it in some all-purpose flour, dunk it in some non-dairy milk, then encrust it with the panko/breadcrumb mixture.  I fried mine in a very small amount of canola oil to get a nice crust, then transfered to the oven.  These were pretty addictive!  We couldn’t stop munching on them.

You’re asking yourself… did I read that right?!  Vegan quiche?  YES!  Courtesy of this blog (scroll down a bit to see the recipe).

First off, let’s talk about the crust.  I used the Flaky Crust recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking subbing whole wheat pastry for the all-purporse flour.  It turned out a little more dry than usual, but still tasted fine.  Since I don’t have a pie plate, I used a 10 inch springform pan (the only one I have left– the others fell apart and had to be retired).  I found that since the dough was on the dry side, rolling it out proved to be a little difficult.  It kept breaking, so I just resorted to pressing it into the bottom of the pan.

For the filling, all I had was super firm tofu in the vaccum sealed package (not the kind packed in water like the recipe calls for).  I also didn’t have any broccoli, so I used the rest of my frozen spinach and peas.  Neither bags had much left in them, but it turned out fine.  I also used green onions because I had some in the fridge that weren’t looking too happy.  When everything was all mixed together, it looked a little dry to me so I put in a few tablespoons of almond milk (just becuase I had some open that needed using up).

Put the filling on top of the crust and bake it!  Couldn’t be easier, really.  This reminded me very much of the hand held quiches I made a while backm during my freezer challenge.  I thought it was delicious and have been eating it every day for breakfast.  Matt throught it was “weird,” but he doesn’t even like non-vegan quiche, so I’m not sure that he’s a very good judge.  When I made the hand held quiches, I seem to remember him liking those a lot and I think I’ll try to combine the two recipes next time to see if he likes that better.