Comfort Food

This great sandwich/paninni came from Vegan Comfort Food (Alicia C. Simpson).  A wonderfully yummy and hearty avocado, vegan cheese and cilantro sandwich. The soup is cream of corn.

Grape Pear Pie

I had never heard of such a thing...a grape and pear pie?????  It was not bad.  Interesting.  The crust tasted great.  I love making the lattice top. I love making pies in general.  It makes me feel like a domestic goddess.  This recipe was from my November Better Homes and Gardens magazine but Veganized. 

Vegan A GoGo

I am going to take my first "vacation" as a vegan in November.   My honey surprised me with a vegan travel book called Vegan A GoGo by Sarah Kramer.  It is a fantastic little book!  I wanted to try out a recipe before I go.  I made the "chicken" salad.  We had it stuffed in pita bread with baked beans and squash.  I am totally going to make some of this and have "chicken" salad sandwiches on the plane!

How to Eat Brussels Sprouts

Roasted with pine nuts and balsamic vinegar of course!  Tonight I made lettuce wraps:  butter lettuce (a fav of mine) and Asian "meat" filling from Yves.  To go along with the wraps, I cooked up my "famous" rosemary potatoes which my honey could eat every day of his life.  And can't forget the brussels sprouts!  Who doesn't love them?  For desert, I whipped up some raisin scones.

Raspberry Sauced-Up Portobello Burger

Have I mentioned how much I do NOT like mushrooms?  Well if I haven't, here goes:  I hate mushrooms.  My honey on the otherhand LOVES them...to the point he could eat them every night.  He brought me this recipe that looked good to him and I cooked it up. It had a wonderful marinade of raspberry jam, OJ, soy sauce.  I have no idea how good it was except that he tells me it was!  I sliced up some sweet potatoes into fries and baked them which is one of MY favorites!  And as usual, a chopped up avocado made it on our plates.

Snacks....

It's always a challenge to find Vegan-friendly "snacks" while we are out and about running errands.  Rubio's is one of our favorites.  Nothing beats some black beans, chips and yummy chipotle salsa! All for cheap too...very cheap.

Sausage and Lunch Meat

Once again, gotta give it up to Vegan Dad for his amazing recipes.  I spent most of Sunday in the kitchen making various things, but these two recipes still have me smiling today.  First, Homemade Sausage which may not look too appealing (please no jokes, ha!) but tastes just-like-sausage.  I made a big batch and froze for future use.  Next, Lunch Meat which also came out great but now that I look at the picture from Vegan Dad, I will have to slice mine much thinner next time.  The nice thing about the lunch meat is you can use it for more than just lunch meat.  Sam had some this morning with pancakes (see Banana Pancake Monday) and I just ate some with toast.

Black Bean Burritos

Got home late on Saturday night and we were starving! I was having trouble thinking of something to make, but then remembered driving by Taco Bell. Now, I loathe Taco Bell. I have not eaten there in years. But while driving by, I thought their grilled burrito and thought "hey, I can do that at home". So, Saturday night I threw together some black beans, spinach, tomatoes, vegan cheez in a skillet. I added some cumin, garlic and other spices. I then filled up multi-grain tortillas, rolled them, put them under the broiler. Once they were done "grilling", I cut them in half and ended up with a nice plate of mini grilled burritos. We cut up some avocado as we do almost every night and then sat down and enjoyed our dinner.....at midnight.

Crispy Tofu with Orange Dipping Sauce

I am not much of a fan of plain ol' tofu.  I like tofu disguised as other food! That has all changed now that I experienced this yummy dish.  I could eat this many times a week.  The recipe is from my new The Kind Life book.  Good thing about it----you can change it up and use any type of dipping sauce.

YUM! Peanut Butter Cups

One of Sam's favorite treats over the years has been Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.  That is a no-no now and boy was I happy to run across this recipe in my new The Kind Life book!  They came out very good....so rich with flavor.  I didn't have any crushed nuts so they look a little plain but next time I will dress them up with some sliced almonds.

Jerk Tempeh and Shroom

Wow, two nights in a row we have had the pleasure of making a Vegan Dad recipe!  Last night it was Ethiopian Stew and tonight we had Grilled Jerk Tempeh and Portobello Mushrooms with just a few modifications because we didn't have exactly everything to make said recipe.  For instance, no peach and no roasted peppers.  But all in all, it came out great and tasted verrrrry good.  Love Jerk spice.  We have been using if for years and years.

Ethiopian Stew

Thanks to Vegan Dad and his awesome Ethiopian Stew, we had full bellies and warm bodies last night.  It was so cold and windy, we thought it a good time to make our first stew of the season.  And a good choice it was.  This stew ROCKS.  It has yummy lentils and lots of veggies, so healthy!!
We will be putting this in our winter rotation for many years to come.

Veggie grill

Nothing like some grilled veggies and faux bbq beef skewers!We had bok choy, asparagus, tomatoes, yellow squash, onions, and red bellpepper. I tossed with olive oil and some seasonings, added some red and white beans then grilled to perfection.

Hmmmm, pizza!

For the most part we make pizza once a week.  I love making it because you can be as creative as you want and it is quick, easy, and tasty!   I usually just wing it and end up with different toppings each time.  Tonight I threw on pesto, then added some cannellini beans (white kidney), artichoke hearts, sauted bellpeppers (green and red) and onions, then topped it off with crumbled silken tofu (which has the consistency of feta).  A little salt, pepper and garlic and we are good to go.  I threw together a quick romaine salad with italian dressing to go along with the pizza.

Banana Pancake Monday!

Every Monday, I make Spice Banana Pancakes from my "Vegan Planet" cookbook.  Monday's have never been the same! I make a large batch and freeze them for little snacks throughout the work week.  It is a very simple recipe with just a few ingredients:  bananas, almond milk, whole wheat flour, and some spices.  Add some faux vegan bacon, organic pure maple syrup and you have yourself a decadent breakfast.

First post! Mac-N-Cheese

Mac-N-Cheese from  VegNews.  They touted it as being "the best mac-n-cheese on the planet. Period." and guess what Sam said after his first bite?  "Best mac and cheese, ever."  I found the recipe to be simple and it was great to toss the pasta and sauce, throw it in the oven, and not have to think about it for the next 30 minutes.  We both ate two bowls (unheard of for me!) and took it to work the next day for lunch.  My honey had a co-worker try it and she could not believe there wasn't "real" cheese involved.
We will definitely be having this again and often. It is a great fall/winter comfort food.  I think I could also get away with using it as my main "potluck" dish and if I didn't tell people it was vegan (a simple mention of  that word and no one will try it), it will be a hit.  However, I would never not be honest about the dish being vegan. So chances are, not many people (non-vegans) will try it.  To that I say:  "your loss" :)