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.