Mexi Veggies and Quesadillas

Yup, that's right. Yum! This was a quick meal to make and very tasty. I made quick quesadillas with Diaya and corn tortillas. Quinoa for another tasty grain. The main attraction was my mexi mushrooms and corn. Cook some mushroom slices. Add corn bits. Season with mexi seasonings. I don't even remember what I put in there - chili powder, oregano.... other stuff? I like to wing it when I cook so this turned out well!

thai inspired soup

okay, so i know it isn't very fair that i've been posting test recipes lately. well, lately meaning "i finally started blogging on here again and, oh look! what pics do i have in my camera." anyways, something is better than nothing, right? a thai inspired soup for the new book full of veggies with a light coconut-citrus broth. ohhh! i've made this twice so far.

i do testing for my buddy tess, who blogs over at radiant health, inner wealth. she has ton of awesome vegan recipes and words of inspiration. her blog is free therepy on the web! she is also a very talented recipe author and has two books out and more in the works. i've been testing for her kiddo book (kid friendly vegan recipes) and for (i think?) weight loss. it is hard to think of it as "weight loss" when i don't think of myself as a) being on a diet or b) when the recipes are soo tasty!

if you love cooking, try some of her recipes out. this is an excellent tomato soup recipe.  tomato soup not your thing? try something else - use her labels to explore her free tasty recipes. then become her fan and friend and maybe you too can recipe test!

Seasme Lime Kale Chips

Yum, raw kale chips! The recipe is top secret (from my buddy Tess' book in the works) but they are pretty tasty! And the photo looks good too :)

Soyrizo Scramble

Here is what you would call a very quick and easy dish. After eating a pound of carrots thoughout the day (don't ask), I wanted something a little less... healthy?... for dinner. Not that this isn't healthy, but it is definatly a little more processed than I normally go.


I decided to put a scramble together. DR wanted sushi, I was tired and feeling lazy. This hit the spot. I put the scramble on a whole wheat bagel and added diced avocado on top. YUM.


Soyrizo Scramble

1 pound (or so) firm tofu, drained
1 - 12 ounce package soyrizo
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
Juice from 1 lemon
2 teaspoons dill
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Salt, pepper, and other seasons to taste (I use a non-salt spice and herb blend)
Bagels and avocado, to serve

In a preheated medium skillet, add soyrizo and fry a bit until warm. Add in tofu, mashing into small crumbles and mixing it into the soyrizo. Add nutritional yeast, lemon juice, dill, soy sauce, and spices and cook 5 minutes or so, until hot and everything is mixed together.

Place mixture on top of toasted bagel and top with avocado. YUM.

Couscous and chickpea salad with olives and walnuts

I was looking in Supermarket Vegan for some quick and easy ideas and stumbled across this recipe. I like beans, DR likes olives and pasta, so it seemed like a good recipe to try. I used chickpeas that I pressure cooked (yummy!) and subbed pine nuts for the walnuts.

Either way, this was a nice dish. The flavors are light and it was good in the summer heat. Not sure if it will be in the regular rotation, but it was good. Here I have it budded up with a hummus wrap I made for LF, since she likes more "hearty" dishes.

Tuscan style white bean quesadillas with artichokes and sun dried tomatoes

Long title, tasty dish. I've been reminded by a couple friends that my blog had been un-updated for quite a while....opps! I can't even figure out where to start explaining that one. Disinterest in cooking? Check. Working a lot? Check. Free time taken up with going to the gym? Check.

Regardless, I am going to attempt amends for this. These quesadillas are from Supermarket Vegan, a nice little book full of fast and fresh recipe ideas. The idea for the book is that it uses ingredients found in most grocery stores (score!) and, as a result, tends to have a lot of stuff I have in my house already. These are very tasty with sour creamy sauce (my fav) or pasta sauce (DR's fav). Using beans instead of cheese in quesadillas isn't something I'm new to but it works fantastically. Black beans and sweet potatoes are another winning combo. Yes!

Teriyaki Double Take

Teriyaki double take! I made this sauce from vegweb.com and DR liked it so much I made two dishes with it!

First, teriyaki tofu wrap. Press, slice, marinade. Bake and wrap with some spinach. Second, I used the marinade to soak some homemade seitan (from vcon) before frying it up in a pan. I steamed some broccoli on the side and then tossed them together. Cashew bits completed the dish. Both were quick, easy, and very tasty!

Three Bean Salad

This is another test recipe for my friend's new book. I love making her recipes - easy, fresh, and she has a special talent for combining fun flavors in new ways!

This salad called for a can of mixed beans - black, pinto and another one I forget. I've never seen these in my life! Apparently upstate NY lacks mixed beans. Or I need to look harder.

Beans are a great salad addition, especially if you dress them in something tasty. These have lime as a dominant flavor and are awesome after soaking in the fridge for a couple days. This mix is garbanzo beans, black beans, and edamame.

BBQ Tofu with Mac and Kale-Shroom

This was a quick meal put together on the desire from the crew for something "tofu" and "mac'n'cheese"--a pretty standard love affair at my house.

The tofu is simply pressed and baked with bbq sauce from the store. I kicked myself afterwards since Vegan Table has a SIMPLE homemade recipe. Live and learn - at least the bottle will be fun to reuse!

Mac'n'cheese is also Vegan Table. I LOVE this recipe and my crew love the cheese sauce it makes. I like how light it is. It is also runny enough to slop up into the noodles.

Lastly, kale and mushrooms. I roasted the mushrooms in oil and vinegar and added them to the kale, which I like to make in my steamer (so easy!). Splash on a little more vinegar and you're set!

Mustardy Tofu with Quinoa and Kale

Another round of recipe testing. This time, a mustardy dressing that I decided to slather on some tofu. Looks cute, no?

Also tried my hand at the quinoa again, adding a lot more garlic. *drool* Good stuff!

The last bit here is my "go to" kale recipe. DR doesn't like kale but she'll eat it if I make it this way. Steam the kale and then drizzle with a touch each roasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Toss well and chow down!

Simple Split Pea Soup

I've been neglectful of the blog for quit a while it seems. I don't even know what I've been doing to take up my time but I do know what I wasn't doing -- a lot of interesting cooking! The semester kicked my butt. On the bright side, I got the next dissertation chapter DONE and discovered that teaching 4 classes won't kill me.

So now that it is a break period, what is a little vegan to do? How about cook and eat and test some sweet recipes for my friend's new cookbook that will be coming out soon. I'm not sure if I can introduce you to these recipes yet, but I will tell you about this split pea soup I made. YUM. So simple. As you can see, you see carrots and celery. There are also peas in there. I ate a bowl and went back for another and realized I was stuffed!

Oven Glazed Tofu with Garlic Quinoa

YUM! Another test recipe for my friend's new cookbook. I've only tried a handful of recipes so far but this book will be a winner just like her first book, Radiant Health, Inner Wealth. You can actually order this book online or check out her blog for some of the recipes from this book.

This is a simple baked tofu with an amazing quinoa under it--it has like half a head of garlic in it but is made in a fun way so you don't kill any vampires. I want to make more with twice the garlic but need to get more quinoa first. :D

Cajun Tofu Wrap

This wrap is too good for words. I'll stop typing now.

Actually, making this for the test kitchen reminded me of how YUMMY tofu is in a wrap. Yummy and easy. My mind was blown.

Fried Veggie Rice

This is called "things to do with leftover rice." Actually, it is simple: you fry it! DR asked me to make her a lunch to pack the other day and I tossed this quick spread together based on a recipe I found on vegweb. I would post the recipe but vegweb is slower than molasses today. Shesh.

Pepper Curry

I've made this recipe before and I was thinking about it when I went on the hunt for a curry to make for DR. I remembered it as easy (bonus) and simple (double bonus). So I made it again. It met those criteria but something was missing - not sure what. The flavor just wasn't where I remembered it being. Oh well. Maybe it was the fancy curry powder I used....

But it is good overall. Tofu, broccoli, sweet bell peppers, baby corn, water chestnuts, and other goodies over rice.

Beet and Avocado Salad

This was a very simple salad. We always get a lot of beets in our CSA box and recently we have been liking them more and more. I guess they are growing on us! I steamed the beets and let them cool before slicing them. I also cut up some lettuce and avocado and tossed it with the mustard dressing in VCon. Ground hazelnuts finished it off. Simple and yummy!

Asian-style Seitan and Kale Salad

Since purchasing my steamer, I've been making a TON of kale (if you haven't noticed in the more recent posts). It makes cooking greens sooo easy - wash and insert. Steam. Eat.

This dish was an attempt to making something that the crew I was feeding (DR and LF) would like. I had the seitan left over from lunch meatz adventures. Here, I steamed the kale to soften it before plunging it in cold water to cool it off. After spinning it to remove the water, I was left with a nice base for this salad. I added avocado, seitan, onion, asperigus and carrot. The dressing is seasme oil, soy sauce, rice vinigar, and some seasme seeds. Very quick and very good! Kale and avocado are like a dream together.

Blueberry Cheezecake

Cheesecake for DR's birthday. This is the second time I've made this recipe and I added lots more lemon - lemon zest, lemon juice. Wait, it already had lemon juice. But still, it needed more lemon to be a LEMON cheesecake.

But it was good. We ate the whole thing quicker than I want to admit.

Enchiladas!

There is nothing I can say about these enchiladas. They are the best thing I can make. Everyone loves them. Blah blah enchiladas!

The filling is brown rice, "burger" crumbles, and a ton of mushrooms. I cook this and add some chili powder and cumin. Fill tortillas and drown in sauce. Interestingly enough, the sauce is actually from a Betty Crocker cookbook my mom gave me for my 21st birthday. It is the only recipe I use because it is very easy and very tasty.

The sour cream sauce is actually a new recipe I came up with. It is raw! Cashews blended with apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, a little salt and some water. DR loves it and keeps asking about it. I guess I'll have to make it more often.

Pasta with Chard and Mushrooms

Here is one of my creations using the lunch meat seitan. As I noted in my last post, this stuff is awesome.

The pasta is very basic and easy. Saute an onion in a couple tablespoons of olive oil, add sliced mushrooms and cook until they are soft and ready to rumble. Add chopped seitan.

Meanwhile, boil water and add pasta. During the last 2 minutes or so of cooking, add in washed and chopped chard. Drain and then toss with the onion/mushroom/seitan mixture. Add a little salt and balsamic vinegar and stir to combine. Ta da!