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!

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!

Herbed Tofu Lasagna with Zucchini

I made this for Easter dinner (see below post re: "Easter"). I asked DR what she wanted and this is what she gave me. The recipe is in the April 2006 VegTimes and I had to make some creative adjustments to deal with the fact that the grocery store I went to was having a bad produce day. I only had two zucchinis, so I added some frozen artichoke hearts. This was a good sub! I also forgot about picking up fresh herbs (well, half forgot: the parsley looked bad and basil was not found). As a result, I used some dried italian herbs in the tofu filling, which was suprisingly easy and tasty. The addition of some toasted pine nuts is what made it a winner. I think.

Lentils Ballz and Pasta

I was helping my friend RC pull wallpaper in her new house and she had made some veggie soup with "lentil balls" in it for lunch. I was impressed enough trying them in the soup that I decided to make some for dinner. She used the Chickpea Cutlet recipe from Vcon, subbing in french lentils for the beans. I only had red lentils, so I used those in the recipe, along with some good sourdough we picked up at Honest Weight. Paired them with pasta and this made a pretty quick and nice meal. I think these would be good in a sandwich also.

Fettuccine with Leeks and Butternut Squash

Okay, I have to admit I used whole wheat "normal" spagetti noodles for this, but to each their own. This is a recipe from Pirello's Cooking the Whole Foods Way, which is 100 percent vegan if you get the newest edition. She as a vegan (pretty sure she said that) macrobiotics past and has a cooking show on PBS. My friend and I used to watch the PBS cooking shows a couple years back, but I don't remember ever seeing this show. Anyways, it is a fantastic cookbook with lots of fun and new ideas in it--something for every mood. I especially like that she uses a lot of different veggies in different ways than my other books. It is also cool that she talks a lot about her journeys with vegan and macro (she is a cancer surviver) and how the recipes really promote health and life. This recipe was pretty good, although the dinner crew wasn't thrilled. The sauce is leeks and squash that are cooked with some spices and liquids and then blended into a puree, which is then used on the pasta like a sauce. I made some frozen mixed veggies to go with them, but they are under my "pile" in the bowl. For fun (and because I had one) I included some fennel greens.

Pasta with Oven Roasted Onion and Swiss Chard

I got the idea to make a "fancy dinner" for DR since I've been slacking in the kitchen. So I got out my copy of The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen (mostly vegan - a fantastic book!) and made pasta with oven roasted onion and swiss chard. For interest, I added some carrots that I also roasted in the oven. It was really tasty! What I love about this cookbook is that all the recipes (well, most) are vegan, including the baked goods, and they are "fancy" in a "I can bust this out in an hour for dinner with minimal effort" kind of way.

Peaking out in the corner is a loaf of fresh bread I made. I just I was feeling quite adventurous.

Mac'n Cheeze

Humm. Mac'n Cheeze. I keep trying out different recipes in hopes of finding one I really like. So far, this one is the winner.

For the record, as we say on vw, the posts will be slow and lazy for the next bit. The semester started and I have a three-load, dissertation, and job market to manage. Therefore, I don't cook dinner.

What am I eating?

Squash Adventure

I honestly can't tell you what this is. I found several pictures from before I went to Boston and, while I remember eating them, I have no idea what it is. This was squash and eggplant in a seasoned tomato sauce. I added some leftover pasta shells that DR had made the day before. The greenbeans were from our CSA box (well, all the veggies were!) and I tossed it on top of some quinoa.

Cold Noodles and Chard

This was a "cheater" recipe since I essentially took the Cold Udon Noodles from VWAV and stole the sauce recipe to adapt to what I had chilin' in my kitchen: buckwheat noodles, chard, and a mega lack of peanut butter. Cammers was coming over and I knew he had peanut butter so I told him to bring it with for dinner, since I was making noodles. He showed up with a jar of White Chocolate Wonderful. Great. I yelled at him. I managed to find a little spicy peanut butter to make this dish and it worked pretty well. DR confirmed her dislike of chard. I got dinner done.

Soyrizo Mac'n'Cheez-o

One of the new items that DR and I have been picking up at the store is Soyrizo, which is essentially a vegan spicy sauage product. It isn't firm and slicable like sausage but it more like really overcooked ground meat. Anyways, it's our new love.

I came up with this dish for dinner because we were hungry and I was feeling lazy. I remember I sent the recipe in to Vegweb, but sadly for you all, you will have to wait until it is posted to find out what exactly went on here. I remember pasta, corn, soyrizo, a can of diced tomatos. Beyond that, I'm not sure. It was a nice quick meal with yummy leftovers, so it might be worth it to keep an eye out for it.

Saucy Pasta and Greens

The other night we were feeling too lazy to do what we wanted with the braising greens, which involved something with quinoa and indian spices that I was cooking up in my head, so I went to the old fall back: pasta and greens.

The pasta is a "secret recipe" that isn't much of a secret. DR wanted mac'n'cheese, I wanted normal pasta, so I made a half and half sauce: half cheeze sauce, half regular red sauce. Mix them together and they are great! I used the mac'n'cheeze recipe from the new Vegetarian Times that is very easy and surprisingly good! It's also nut free, for any nut free people out there.
On the side, I made some mixed greens that we got in our CSA box (kale, bok choy, and ??? green). I cooked them with a little oil and balsamic vinegar. They were great! I love me some greens.

Pasta with Mixed Veg

Tonight I tossed together a very simple dinner using some leftovers in the fridge. DR wanted me to use buckwheat noodles, but I vetoed that idea in favor of whole wheat pasta. The sauce is olive oil, mushrooms, the leftover asparagus/mushrooms from Za'tar the other night, spinach, and some chopped up leftover canned tomatoes and their juice. I added a little salt and Italian seasoning and tossed it all with the pasta. Very good! On the side, I cut up some romaine and put a little orange-sesame dressing on it. Part of me thought we had some dressing in the house, but the OS one was it!

I've been having some issues getting good pictures the past few days. My hands have been more shaky than normal from my medication (or it just too cold in my apartment!). My plan is to set up a mini-photography area in the house with good light and (hopefully) a tripod to get the shakies out, but I think my camera, on lower battery, is also part of the issue. Who knows?!

Veggie Mac'n'Cheeze

Tonight we decided to go downhome with some classic comfort food: mac'n'cheese. I've been eating a lot of junk this week (as much as a vegan can do that!) and wanted to make a healthier version of mac'n'cheese. I had spent a little time in the afternoon making some uncheese for a potluck I'm going this weekend so I tossed some of the leftover stuff in the vitamix and ended up with this creation. It still needs a little work, but it was a nice blander cheezy dish. It also makes a gallon, so its good if you have a crew to feed.

Mac'n'Cheeze with Mushrooms and Spinach.
1 palmetto (from a jar)
1/3 c nutritional yeast
2 c water
2 cloves garlic
1 squirt of prepared mustard
2 handfuls (1 c?) raw almonds
splash of soysauce
1/2 silken firm tofu
2 spoons tahini (2-3 TB)
generous squirt of lemon juice
1 tsp onion powder
2 heaping spoons cornstarch

Combine all of the above in a blender and blend until smooth. You can add in spices or whatever you like--this is a base recipe by far!

Next, place 8 oz (about 2-3 cups) sliced mushrooms in a large frypan with a dash of oil and a little water. Cook on medium heat for about ten minutes, or until they are soft and juicy looking. Add in 2 c frozen chopped spinach (or a few handfuls fresh) and heat until cooked though. Pour in the cheeze mix from the blender and bring to a low boil for a few minutes. This will result in a thickened cheeze sauce.

To serve, pour onto pasta. This amount made enough sauce for one pound of elbow macaroni.