Thai Tofu & Veggie Pizza with Peanut Sauce

Spicy Thai pizza with peanut sauce was one of my favorite pizzas back in college. Zeek's Pizza in Seattle makes a fantastic one, though it was difficult to find enough people interested in splitting one to make it worthwhile to order, so I didn't get to indulge very often. Zeek's also makes an awesome BBQ chicken pizza, so I was happy to settle for that instead.

A friend online mentioned last week that she was going to make a Thai pizza like this, and I immediately added it to this week's menu. I made my very simple pizza dough, patted it out on my pizza stone, and glazed it with a little olive oil. I loaded it up with bean sprouts, shredded carrot, coarsely chopped red onion, soy sauce basted grilled tofu cut into chunks, little broccoli florets, and loads of fresh cilantro. I put mozzarella cheese on Brad's half, but left it off mine. Pizza is something I'm usually willing to splurge on, and veer out of my mostly vegan diet for, but I really don't need it for this pizza. I also whipped up a quick batch of peanut sauce, which we drizzled over the pizza after it came out of the oven, as well as a dish of it on the side for dipping. I also garnished the pizza with chopped peanuts and crushed red pepper.



The verdict? Delicious! I love homemade pizza, and I love unusual pizza, so this satisfies both. I honestly didn't even miss the cheese.



I'd also like to give a shout out to my sweet husband Brad, who decided while he was in Japan that he wanted to become a vegetarian, too! Hooray for Brad! He's not at all interested in going vegan, which I can understand, but I'm proud of him, and excited for both of us, that he's an "all the way" vegetarian now! He's been completely meat-free for a week and a half now, and said that he feels better than he has in ages. Way to go, Brad!

Weekly Menu - week of August 24th

Sunday - dinner out

Monday - Lentil tacos

Tuesday - Grilled burritos made with leftover taco fixings

Wednesday - Thai tofu, vegetable and peanut sauce pizza

Thursday - Chickpea Salad

Friday - leftovers, most likely

Saturday - WE'LL BE AT THE LSU FOOTBALL GAME, BITCHES! OH YEAH!

Hooray for hummus!

I was so disappointed after last night's hummus disaster, so imagine my delight when I went the the lunch room today, and saw that a huge spread of Greek food had been catered in for lunch!! There were lamb gyros, chicken shwarma, rice pilaf, tzatziki sauce, hummus, pita bread, and Greek salad. Oh, baby!

The food wasn't a big hit with my co-workers, but hey, all the better, because more food for me, bitches! Yeah! I had a huge plate of salad, a scoop of hummus, and a round of the most fabulously chewy pita bread. There were literally stacks of leftovers, so I was able to bring home an entire tray of hummus (leaving another tray and a half behind), about a dozen rounds of pita bread, and a big bowl of salad, which we happily dined on this evening.

Look at all that hummus!



Hooray for leftovers! And hooray for hummus!

Greek-ish Salad

Well, dinner tonight was a bust. Brad came home today (woohoo!), and had requested hummus, pita bread, and Greek salad. I make a kick-ass hummus, so I was happy to oblige, but it was an utter failure. I first realized that I didn't have garlic, so I tried to just substitute garlic powder instead. Bad, bad idea, I know. I hate garlic powder and think it makes everything taste awful, but I did it anyway. Then I decided to healthy it up a little by using liquid from the canned garbanzo beans instead of olive oil. Again, bad, bad idea. It's just not the same. And then I used too much of the liquid, and the hummus was terribly runny, so I tried to thicken it up by adding some chickpea flour. It did thicken it up, but it gave it this dry, beany, floury flavor. ICK.

So it was decided that I would run to the store and pick up some garlic and more garbanzo beans. Before I left, though, I figured that instead of letting the icky hummus go completely to waste, we could feed it to the dogs. So we put some scoops of it into the dogs' food bowls, along with their Puppy Chow. Yeah. Even the dogs wouldn't eat it. Talk about a recipe bomb!

I came back from the store and began mixing up the hummus, and only then did it occur to me that I had used the last of our tahini in the first disastrous batch of hummus. UGH! I tried to make it work anyway, by using just a spoonful of peanut butter (someone swore years ago that it's the only way to make fantastic hummus), and a drizzle of sesame oil, but yeah...it sucked.

Needless to say, we did NOT have hummus with dinner tonight. Instead I made a big salad of lettuce, grape tomatoes, green bell pepper, olives and garbanzo beans, tossed with red wine vinegar, olive oil and dill. Brad had feta in his, too. It was good, and very filling with some pita bread on the side, but we did really miss the hummus.

Recipes I'd like to try

I just browsed Tastespotting for the first time in ages, and came up with a big list of recipes I'd like to try. I'm posting them here so I don't forget about them! ; )

Black Bean Salad

Chocolate Tofu Pie

Grandma's Grain

Roasted Eggplant & Tomato Soup

Mango-Nectarine Salad

Gingered Sweet Pickled Cauliflower

Raw Tofu Salad

Chipotle Corn Salad

Young Corn & Celery Soup

Cherry Streusel Muffins

Shanghai Bok Choy

Weekly Menu - week of August 17th

Sunday - leftovers

Monday - spaghetti, sauce, salad

Tuesday - spaghetti pie, salad

Wednesday - hummus, Greek salad, pita bread

Thursday - lentil tacos or taco salad

Friday - burritos with leftover taco fixings

Saturday - dinner out

My very most favoritest dinner

I've lost count of how many times I've made this Black-Eyed Pea Salad since I first discovered the recipe 2 months ago. It's become my go-to recipe, something I can easily throw together when we need a quick meal. I love this salad! It has evolved somewhat since I first made it, and now I use 2 cans of garbanzo beans and about a cup of edamame instead of black-eyed peas. I like it a lot better this way, since the garbanzo beans and edamame have more of a bite to them.

I made this salad tonight, since Lydia is having a sleepover with her friend, and I wanted something yummy enough to tempt me away from their pizza. ; )

You can see my original post about it here.

Yum!

Pumpkin Peanut Soup

This is one of those recipes I've wanted to try for ages, but haven't had a chance to. Brad doesn't care for pumpkin, and he despises peanut butter, so this soup is definitely not something he's interested in eating. But since he's still in Japan, and I happened to have the ingredients on hand, I jumped at the chance to finally try it. It totally hit the spot, and was easy to throw together. After tasting it, I know Brad would hate it, but this will go on the list of things to make in the future when he's out of town. Gotta love a husband who travels, right? ; )



I think this would look really pretty garnished with some cilantro and chopped peanuts, but hey, I made it work with what I had in the pantry!

Pumpkin Peanut Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup chopped shallots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon thyme
3 cups vegetable broth
1 15-oz can pumpkin
1 14-oz can light coconut milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
salt and pepper
cayenne pepper

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and shallots. Cook and stir for several minutes, or until onion is softened and translucent. Add garlic and thyme, and cook for 1 minute longer. Stir in vegetable broth and pumpkin. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat. Add coconut milk and peanut butter. If desired, process in a blender or food processor until smooth, then return to stove to heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle individual servings with cayenne pepper, if desired.

Weekly Menu - week of August 10th

Sunday - dinner out at Cheeburger Cheeburger for Lydia's dinner

Monday - chickpea salad, garlic bread

Tuesday - leftovers

Wednesday - spaghetti, marinara sauce, salad

Thursday - lentil tacos

Friday - burritos

Saturday - leftovers

Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Caramelized Onion and Sage Bread Crumb Topping

Yet another fabulous Veganomicon recipe! This is another that I've been wanting to try for a long time, but that Brad would never go for. He doesn't like pumpkin in any capacity, so I've put it off until now, knowing that my mom would be all for it. It was awesome to have my mom's help in the kitchen. She's the one who taught me to cook when I was younger, and is a foodie just like me. I loved cooking with her tonight!

And this pasta...it's to die for. As with my previous Veganomicon posts, I'm not going to share the recipe with you. I know others have, but I just don't think it's cool to do so. I strongly urge you to go pick up a copy of this cookbook. It's not let me down yet!

This recipe was my first time making a vegan ricotta substitute, which turned out beautifully. I honestly can't believe that tofu, cashews, olive oil, lemon juice and some seasoning can taste like ricotta. What a find! The ricotta is mixed with pumpkin, caramelized onions, and spices, then tossed together with the cooked pasta. On top are some gorgeous toasted bread crumbs and walnuts.

Good golly, this recipe is amazing!

Weekly Menu - week of August 3

Here's our plan for the week. We're eating out a bunch because my mom is visiting, and we're trying to see all the family while she's here.

Sunday - dinner out

Monday - Pumpkin pasta, salad, french bread

Tuesday - Spinach and potato enchiladas, spanish rice

Wednesday - dinner out

Thursday - dinner out

Friday - Pineapple quinoa stir-fry

Saturday - probably dinner out again

Creamy Asian Pear and Tempeh Salad with Wasabi Dressing

Brad left for Japan this morning, which is very sad for me, but my mom is visiting, which means I have the opportunity to try out a bunch of recipes that I've been interested in, but that didn't appeal to Brad. Gotta take lemons and make 'em into lemonade, right? I'm so excited that my mom is here, and am looking forward to spending the next 10 days with her. Hooray!

The first recipe on the list was Creamy Asian Pear and Tempeh Salad with Wasabi Dressing, from Veganomicon. I won't give out the whole recipe, since I don't want to step on their toes, and because I think everyone out there should go pick up a copy of this awesome book. But I will tell you that the salad contains tempeh, pear (no Asian pears to be found today, so we just used a Bosc) , green onions, and a spicy Vegenaise-based dressing. Oh, baby!



I served mine on some absolutely delicious sprouted soy wheat bread, toasted, with baby greens. That, with an apple and some blueberries, made a delicious lunch.

Chipotle Barbecue Bean and Corn Salad

I was so inspired by this recipe on Food Blogga last night, that I had to switch up my menu and make it for tonight's dinner. I mean, look at Food Blogga's pictures! I was drooling from the first glance. So I stopped at the store on the way home, picked up all the ingredients, and made it almost as soon as I walked in the door from work. I wanted to make sure it had time to chill for a bit before dinner, as the recipe states that it tastes best after a few hours.

It's so delicious! Tangy, smokey and spicy. I love it! We've really been enjoying the Black-eyed Pea Salad lately (which I've now taken to making with garbanzo beans and edamame instead of black-eyed peas), so I'm thrilled to have another chilled bean salad to add to my repertoire.

I made a few minor adaptations to the recipe: I used 1 whole red onion instead of 2 green onions, because I'm a red onion fanatic; I omitted the red bell pepper, because bell peppers are crazy expensive these days; and I added some diced avocado. Oh, and I just realized that I omitted the oregano because I was in a hurry, and just didn't notice it. Woops.

This is great just eaten plain with a fork as a main dish, or scooped up with chips as a dip, or served as a side dish. You really can't go wrong with this. And it's vegan! Woohoo!

Thank you, thank you, Food Blogga, for an amazing recipe! It's guaranteed to become a favorite in our home.



Chipotle Barbecue Bean and Corn Salad
Makes 4-6 servings

Sauce:
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
3-4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped, plus 1-2 tablespoons of adobo sauce

Salad:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 red onion, coarsely chopped
2 ears sweet corn, kernels removed from the cob
1 (14.5 oz) can of black beans, rinsed
1 (14.5 oz) can of red kidney beans, rinsed
1 (14.5 oz) can of chick peas, rinsed
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano

To make the sauce, whisk together all ingredients in a medium bowl, and set aside.

To make the salad, heat olive in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and corn kernels. Saute until lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat, and add to a large bowl. Add rinsed beans, and sauce; stir until well combined. Gently stir in the fresh herbs. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled, though it tastes better if allowed to rest for a couple of hours.

Lentil Haystacks

We first had lentil haystacks several weeks ago, and we were instantly smitten. They're delicious, filling, fresh, and almost ridiculously inexpensive. I figured we would start to eat them all the time, but given my reluctance to repeat recipes very often, we haven't had them again until tonight. And, as with so many other things, I'm kicking myself for not having them sooner. These haystacks rock!

I love that they can be customized to each person's liking. Meg had just rice and lentils. Lydia had rice, lentils, cheese and olives. Brad had rice, lentils, cheese, salsa, onions and sour cream. I had rice, lentils, vegan monterey jack cheese, salsa, onions, olives and cilantro. Fabulous!



If you're trying to feed your family (or just yourself) on a budget, or if you're just trying to trim your grocery budget, definitely give this recipe a try!

Lentil Haystacks

1 cup dry lentils
4 cups water
4 cups hot, cooked rice (brown or white)
assorted toppings, such as cheese, red onions, sour cream, jalapenos, sliced or shredded vegetables, salsa, olives, capers, salad dressing, etc.

Combine the lentils and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 to 30 minutes, until lentils are tender.

Serve lentils over rice, and top with desired toppings.

Weekly Menu - week of July 27

Sunday - dinner out

Monday - Coconut Milk Dal, flat bread

Tuesday - Lentil haystacks

Wednesday - Chickpea and spinach stew

Thursday -Greek salad, hummus, pita bread

Friday - leftovers

Saturday - undecided (my mom will be here and I want to get her input first)

Cheesy Scrambled Eggs

The kids wanted to cook breakfast this morning, so Lydia browsed through her many cookbooks for kids, and settled on Cheesy Scrambled Eggs with fun-shaped toast.



The kids did this all by themselves, and I'm very proud of them. Lydia still needs to focus more and pay better attention to the recipe instructions, but she's definitely showing improvement!

They spread their toast with some mayhaw jelly that Brad's cousin Emily gave us for Christmas. I've only ever seen it around here, but if you can find it in your area, it's delicious! It has a nice, mild, mellow flavor, and the best I can compare it to is the pomegranate jelly my mom used to make when we lived in Spain. There were several pomegranate trees on base, growing wild, and we could pick a bunch of 10-gallon pickle buckets' full for free. Imagine how much that would cost at the store. Yikes! Anyway, the mayhaw jelly has a similar flavor to pomegranate jelly, and is so good on toast.

I had more leftover Thai Tofu Wraps from last night, since the eggs obviously weren't vegan, but the girls loved them!

Here's Miss Meg, proudly sporting her Monkeywoman t-shirt from Mary. Please forgive the bedhead, since this was Saturday breakfast, and we're being lazy this morning.



And Lydia gives the breakfast a thumbs up!



Cheesy Scrambled Eggs

3 eggs
3 Tbsp milk
1 tsp margarine
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
bacon bits, if desired (we used Bacos)

Whisk together the eggs and milk. Melt margarine in a skillet over medium heat. When the margarine is melted and bubbling, add the eggs. Leave them alone for 1 minute, then stir gently until the eggs are scrambled and set. Remove from heat, add the cheese, and stir until the cheese is melted. Add bacon bits, if desired, and serve immediately.

At last!

Finally! A real blog post! With pictures AND a recipe! Hooray!



Tonight we had super yummy, crunchy, crispy, fresh, spicy, zest wraps stuffed with fresh veggies, grilled tofu, and a drizzle of peanut sauce. Oh, baby! I can't even begin to tell you how much these hit the spot. They were exactly what I've been craving! They're also fairly quick to throw together, which is a nice because Brad is taking off in a few minutes to go do his monthly Navy Reserve drill period in New Orleans, so we were able to maximize our time together before he goes.

These are great for a light meal, but if you're craving something heartier, you can also stuff the wraps with jasmine rice and chopped peanuts. Deeeelicious!



Thai Tofu Wraps with Peanut Sauce

1 block extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce
4 leaves green cabbage
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup shredded carrot
1/2 medium cucumber, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Very hot water
Large flour tortillas

Cut the block of tofu in half horizontally, then slice into sticks, about 3/4" x 1/2" x 3". Set aside. Heat a grill pan or Foreman Grill. Brush lightly with vegetable oil, then place the tofu on the grill and drizzle with soy sauce. Grill 3 to 4 minutes per side (no need to flip if it's on the Foreman Grill), or until it firms up somewhat and has pretty grill marks. Set aside.

Toss together the cabbage, bean sprouts, carrot, cucumber, vinegar, sugar, cayenne pepper, and salt. Set aside.

Whisk together the peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, brown sugar and cayenne pepper. Gradually whisk in hot water until it reaches a good consistency for drizzling. Set aside.

Now it's time to assemble the wraps. Heat tortillas in the microwave until soft and pliable. Place a handful of vegetable mixture on the tortilla, top with 3 strips of tofu, and drizzle with peanut sauce. Carefully wrap up and place seam-side down on a plate until ready to serve.

These can be served warm, chilled, or room temperature.

Dinner recap

Well folks, I am once again boring. Last night I made the super yummy Black-eyed Pea Salad, which is quick becoming a standard for us, except this time I used garbanzo beans and edamame instead of black-eyed peas. It was delicious, satisfying and sooo easy. I didn't get any pictures because I was sick yesterday, and it's something I've made bunches of times already.

Tonight we're having leftovers from work. This is decidedly not a vegan meal, but it just seemed the responsible thing to do, since it's free. It was really yummy, spicy, creamy pasta with chicken (which I picked out of my serving) and garlic bread. Look at it! So delicious!



And now, I have to say that I'm really torn. I love to cook, and I love cooking and eating vegan food. It's important to me for so many different reason, all of which I've detailed before. But I'm torn, because nearly every single day there are scads of leftovers at work. If I don't bring them home, they get dumped in the garbage. I'm not talked about just the meager pickings left after everyone has eaten; I'm talking about entire untouched pans of food. Last week I brought home a massive pan of lasagna. Today I brought home more pasta than would fit in a 9x13 pan, and at least 4 baguettes' worth of garlic bread. It seems downright wrong to let that food be thrown away. The problem is that almost none of it is vegan. So what do I do? One of the biggest reasons I'm vegan is because of the global ramifications of a non-vegan diet. It's such a gross misuse of resources. But what's worse? To let days' worth of food be throw in the garbage because it's not vegan, or to go ahead and eat it and not take up any more resources in buying other food? I am really, really torn. I love to cook, and I want to adhere to a vegan diet, but it seems stupid to spend money on groceries every week, when I could feed our family almost completely on leftovers from work.

So what to do? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I'm just not sure what do about this. :sigh:

In other news, I registered for my Fall semester classes last night, and I am SO excited to get started! Classes start in about 4 weeks, and I'm dying to dive into them. I'm taking all upper-level classes this semester, which should be a lot more fulfilling. Yippee!

I'll leave you with a picture of something I made last week, but forgot to blog about. These are spinach and mushroom enchiladas, which I was not terribly pleased with. They were good, but not great. I also made spanish rice with green sauce, and refried beans from scratch. Overall a very satisfying meal, although I'll tweak the enchiladas quite a bit next time.

So much for cooking

Well, I was all set to dive back into the kitchen this evening, but the leftovers from today's lunch at work were just too tempting to resist. We had a huge burrito bar catered in, complete with steak, chicken, tortillas, black beans, refried beans, pico de gallo, lettuce, spanish rice, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, tortillas, salsa, chips and queso dip. At lunch, I made myself a huge taco salad, then I brought home a little of everything for tonight's dinner. I made a big bowl of rice and just piled the toppings on. Yum!

So hopefully tomorrow I'll be back in the kitchen for reals. I doubt there will be something so vegan-friendly at work tomorrow. ; )

Weekly Menu - week of July 19th

We're back from our weekend away! It was seriously one of the best weekends I've ever had. Brad's friends are two of my favorite people, and it's the most wonderful thing to spend time with them. I wish we lived close enough to see them more often!

We got home after dinner, but I'll be back in the kitchen tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to cooking again after a week off. Here's my plan for the week. A lot of it is stuff I've made before, so it's not a terribly exciting menu, but it all sounds really good right now, so I'm going with it!

Sunday - dinner out, on the way home

Monday - Thai tofu wraps

Tuesday - black-eyed pea salad, spinach, french bread

Wednesday - spicy grilled tempeh, roasted potatoes, salad

Thursday - Greek salad, hummus, pita bread

Friday - leftovers

Saturday - kids' choice

Booooooooooring

Ok, so evidently leftovers are incredibly boring. We've managed to go this whole week with only cooking one meal (enchiladas on Monday, which were very unremarkable and not so great, unfortunately), and have been otherwise subsisting on leftovers, and food I bring home from work. The other day I brought home an entire 24"x12" untouched pan of lasagna that was left after lunch, so that's now in 4 big gladware containers in the freezer. Score! I won't eat it because it has loads of meat and cheese in it, but it's great for lunches for Brad and the kids, and it was going to get thrown away otherwise, so I'll take it!

But that brings me back to my original point: leftovers are boring. I have no food items of interest to blog about, and that makes me sad. We're going out of town for the weekend tomorrow (to visit some of Brad's college friends in Auburn), but I promise to be back in full cooking mode next week. I miss working in my kitchen!

Also, I haven't decided for sure, but I think I may end up bowing out of Tuesdays with Dorie. Many of the recent recipes haven't been at all interesting or appealing to me, and many of them are difficult to veganize, so it's been hard for me to participate. The rules are pretty unflinching and stringent, so it doesn't leave me a lot of room to stay on. I'll think about that this weekend and decide for sure next week, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to give it up, with much sadness. :sigh:

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend, and you can rest assure that Brad and I will be having a marvelous time in Auburn. I love that town!

Peace out.

Weekly Menu - week of July 12th

Brad and I just spent a good hour making a list of all the food in our pantry, fridge and freezer. I've tried really hard not to amass tons of staples in our kitchen, and instead just buy them as I go, but the inevitable has occurred over the past 6 months here, and stuff has piled up. It's time to use that stuff up. Our goal this week is to cook primarily from what we have on hand, only going to the store for perishables and other minor recipe components. If anyone is really interested, I can post the contents of our kitchen, but unless someone requests it, I'm going to leave it out.

As much as I despise leftovers, we're also committed to eating more of them. :big sigh: It's so hard to motivate myself to eat them, especially since I enjoy cooking so much, but it just makes sense financially, and it's the responsible thing to do. Man, I hate being responsible sometimes. But it will be interesting to see how much we save by doing so. Already we're only spending about $75/week on groceries for 3 meals a day, which I think is commendable, but maybe we can trim that budget even more. We'll see. We'd like to trade in Brad's '02 Mustang for a more fuel efficient car, so trimming our food budget could give us more to put towards that loan, if we decide to go for it. Hmmmm, so much to think about.

Anyway, here's what I came up with for this week menu. All we should need to buy is some french bread (and maybe I'll just make that myself), and fresh veggies for the green curry and the orzo salad. Nice! Talk about a cheap week!

Sunday - leftover spaghetti, salad, french bread

Monday - spinach and mushroom enchiladas, spanish rice, salad

Tuesday - leftover enchiladas, spanish rice, salad

Wednesday - green curry vegetables with rice noodles

Thursday - orzo, chickpea and roasted vegetable salad, french bread

Friday, Saturday & Sunday - out of town for the weekend! Woot!

Oh, how I love gingersnaps!

Gingersnaps are one of my favorite cookies, and my mom has the best recipe EVER. My freshman year of college, my roommate would go nuts every time my mom sent them in a care package. I don't know what it is that makes this recipe so awesome, bu you know, it's just one of those things you don't question. They rock. That's enough for me.

I veganized them this evening, with equally fantastic results. The only non-vegan ingredient in the original recipe was an egg, so I just substituted a ground flax seed and water mixture. They were delicious, spicy, crispy on the outside with just a little chewiness in the middle. The perfect gingersnap, in my opinion. Nice! They're great with a cup of tea, or a glass of almond milk. Dig in! Vegan gingersnaps! Hooray!



Vegan Gingersnaps

1 Tbsp ground flax seed
3 Tbsp water
¾ cup all-vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp molasses
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 375.

Whisk together flax seed and water. Set aside.

Cream together shortening, sugar and molasses. Add flax seed mixture, beating well. Sift together dry ingredients and add to batter, mixing well.

Roll into 1-inch balls; roll in sugar. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes for soft, chewy cookies, or 12 minutes for crispy cookies.

Veganized Burger for a Bunch

I think I blogged my recipe for Burger for a Bunch back when I first started up this blog, and transfered all of my recipes over here. It's an incredibly old school recipe, something my mom (and her mom, I believe) have been making for ages. It's one of those awesome recipes that has a whole bunch of ingredients, but they're all things that you usually have in your kitchen, so it doesn't require a trip to the store. Gotta love that, right?

Veganizing it was really easy, although next time I think I would just leave out the vegan cheese. It just doesn't taste right, and I'd rather go without it than to have that fake cheesy flavor in it. Other things I changed were using lentils instead of ground beef, and vegannaise instead of mayo, vegan margarine instead of butter, and so forth. Easy peasy!

So yeah...not the most attractive meal, but I don't care! It's good!






Burger for a Bunch

lentil filling (below)
1/2 cup mashed potato flakes, divided
2 Tbsp. melted vegan margarine
2 cups flour
1Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup vegan margarine
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
1/2 cup shredded vegan cheddar cheese (optional)

Prepare filling as directed below; set aside.

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine 1/4 cup of the potato flakes with melted margarine; set aside.

In large mixing bowl combine remaining 1/4 cup potato flakes, flour, sugar, cream of tartar and baking soda. Cut in margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk and mayonnaise; blend until a soft dough forms. Divide in half; shape into balls. Roll out one ball on floured surface to 9" circle. Place on greased cookie sheet. Spread filling to within 1/2" of edge and sprinkle with cheese. Roll out remaining dough and place on filling; seal edges with a fork. Brush with soy milk and sprinkle with reserved potato flake and butter mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 until golden brown.

This recipe may be made ahead of time. Cover and place in refrigerator for several hours or overnight. Bake 375 for 20 -25 minutes.

Lentil Filling

4 cups cooked lentils
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup mashed potato flakes
3/4 cup catsup
1/4 cup sweet relish
1 Tbsp. salad mustard

Saute ground beef, onion, salt and pepper until browned. Add all the remaining ingredients and blend well.

Bibimbap

Bibimbap is still a work in progress for me. I'm always afraid that I'll burn the rice on the edges, but then I end up taking it off the heat before it develops a good crust. Grrrrr. You'd think I'd learn by now.



We discovered Bibimbap at our favorite Korean BBQ place in Japan, and we were instantly hooked. I don't have the proper stone bowl for making it at home, so I use a Le Creuset saucier instead. I think I may have Brad suck it up and pay the money for a real stone bowl when he's in Japan next month, but we'll see. The Le Creuset works for now.

This should have a raw egg on top, which is then stirred and tossed with the rice mixture, cooking it sort of like fried rice, but there's no real way to do that and keep it vegan, so we left out the egg. I also substituted diced tofu for the typical ground meat. It was still really good, and incredibly filling. This is not an authentic recipe, just my own attempt to make it as best I can, but I think it's a pretty good approximation. ; )

Bibimbap

2 Tbsp sesame oil
3-4 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup extra-firm tofu, finely diced
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp grated ginger
2-inch section zucchini, julienned
2-inch section carrot, julienned
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup spinach, cooked and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, finely diced
2 Tbsp hot chili sauce

Combine tofu, soy sauce, sugar and ginger. Toss gently to coat. Set aside.

Add the sesame oil to a stone bowl, and heat over high heat until smoking, tilting to coat the inside. Add rice, pressing it against the sides and bottom of the bowl. Arrange tofu mixture, zucchini, carrot, bean sprouts, spinach and mushrooms over the rice. Pour the hot sauce in the middle.

Continue heating bowl, if necessary, until rice is crispy and brown on the bottom and edges. Use a spoon to combine the mixture thoroughly, being sure to get the crispy bits off the bottom and edges. Serve immediately.