Red Bean Coleslaw~pg. 84:Creamy Coleslaw Dressing~pg. 93

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Another hit by Wolffie! A delicious alternative to the plain old coleslaw.

Served my coleslaw with chick'n nuggets, waffle fries and sauteed spinach with sweet mini peppers.

Fajitas

Well, I had fruit salad and potatoes made from the LDV Challenge so I needed something else. I had half a bag of Gardein Beefless Tips in the freezer so I decided to make some fajitas!

 

 

Here is the recipe I came up with:

 

Fajitas

1/2 bag Gardein Beefless Tips

juice from one lime

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

2 Tbsp. oil

3 sweet red mini peppers, sliced

10-12 oz. bag frozen vegetable and bean mix (cooked until crisp/tender)

flour tortillas

Daiya shredded cheddar

cilantro, chopped

hot sauce

 

*Put Tips in medium bowl; add lime juice, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and oil. Let marinate in fridge for about an hour. Take scissors and snip Tips into smaller pieces. Heat large skillet and saute' the Tips, marinade and mini peppers for 4-5 minutes. Add veg. and bean mix and cook and stir until heated through. Top flour tortilla with fajita mixture and garnish with Daiya cheddar, cilantro and hot sauce. Roll up and eat! Yum! The LDV Spiced Potatoes are a tasty addition inside the tortilla, too. Makes enough for 5-6 fajitas depending on size of tortillas.

 

I know the picture is kind of boring and blah but it all tasted good together. I'm not claiming to be a professional photographer anyway. :)

Creamy Tropical Fruit Salad~pg. 86

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Now this was much better than the so-so potatoes! But it's a recipe from the infamous "Wolffie". Poor woman (I guess it's a woman) she should have made her own cookbook and reaped some of the profit. Great salad to take to a potluck. I did make the following substitutions~only used red grapes; left out the bananas (allergic to raw bananas); added 3 kiwis instead of 1; added 1/2 C. shredded coconut; and left out the vegan marshmallows (wasn't going to tackle making them or driving for 1 1/2 hours to buy them!) Hubby gives this one two thumbs up. :) And I'm so proud of myself; I used organic apples, grapes and strawberries. Hey, every little bit helps.

Spiced Potatoes~pg. 191

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Eh-these were okay as far as potatoes go. I always seem to boil my potatoes too long and then I almost have mashed potatoes. I don't think I would make them again-just sayin'.

Irish Stew and Oat Bread

I made the oat bread for my LDV challenge and wanted something easy to go with it. I had made the stew a couple of weeks ago and had put the rest of it in the freezer. When I made it I had forgotten that it seemed to keep growing as I added ingredients! Next time I make this I'll cut the recipe in half. The recipe is here:  http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2009/03/irish-white-bean-and-cabbage-stew.html

Even though it's hot and humid outside this stew and bread reminds me that autumn is on its way!

Kissing Cousins Oat Bread~pg. 266

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

The recipe called for 2 cups rolled oat flakes to be ground up in the food processor. I happened to have some oat flour amongst my miscellaneous flours in the fridge so decided to use that. I did a little research to make sure I had the ratio right and it is 1 1/4 C. oats to 1 C. flour. So I only used 1 1/2 C. flour. Did I do the math right?! Well anyway it turned out; I did have to bake it for 40 minutes instead of the 25-30 minutes the recipe called for.

 

Really yummy toasted and slathered with Earth Balance margarine and strawberry jam; mmm!

Baked Tofu

I had some water-packed tofu in the fridge that was getting ready to expire so I needed to find something to do with it. I had never made baked tofu before so I thought I would try the "Soy-Glazed Tofu" from 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson.

 

I used my trusty little TofuXpress:

I've only used it twice now; you can't use it with silken tofu and that's the kind I usually buy. I need to put this to more use since it wasn't cheap!

 

After marinating the pressed tofu for 30 minutes then I baked it for 30 minutes. I tried a piece and whew-was it salty. I'm glad I made that bland tasting rice to go with this!

 

Soy-Glazed Tofu over Quick Vegetable Rice

I also made my favorite vegan ranch dressing from Veganize This! by Jenn Shagrin. The baked tofu tasted alot better when eating it with the rice. Now I'm going to have to try some different baked tofu recipes to see which one I like best.

 

Quick Vegetable Rice~pg. 190

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Just like it says-a quick veg rice; make sure you use basmati rice. I love the flavor and texture of it. Not much to say about this recipe. It doesn't have much flavor which is good when you want to serve it with something else.

Wendy's Lentil & Brown Rice Casserole~pg. 140

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

 

 

I've made this casserole several times. So easy-just dump everything in the dish and pop it in the oven. It does have to cook for 1 1/2 hours and needs stirring every 30 minutes but I can handle that! Intstead of the can of crushed tomatoes the recipe called for, I used a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes. It gave it an extra smoky flavor. It goes really well with the Sweet 'N' Sour Red Cabbage, steamed summer squash and garlic/nooch bread.

Sweet 'N' Sour Red Cabbage~pg. 187

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Love the bright colors of my red cabbage cooking! An easy, delicious, nutritious side dish. Reminds me of pickled beets, which I love.

Spanish/Greek Fusion

I had some Herbed Feta from the Spinach Spanakopita I made so I thought I would try the Classic Greek Salad recipe from the same article. (VegNews May/June 2012)

This huge salad only required 3 Tbsp. of olive oil, a little lemon juice and some oregano, salt and pepper. Bright, fresh flavors and the Herbed Feta was wonderful in it.

Along with the Greek Salad I made Spanish Squash Saute' from Color Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. I was looking for a recipe to use the organic zucchini and yellow squash I had bought at Sprouts and this sounded good. There are so many ways you could serve this: side dish, on top of baked potatoes, with some scrambled tofu, in a tortilla... The seasonings are just a little chili powder, cumin and salt.

We even had guests to share this meal with. I invited my mom and dad over and I served these with baked potatoes (Earth Balance margarine, vegan sour cream & chives, Daiya cheddar shreds), and garlic/nutritional yeast bread with Peach Crumbcake for dessert! I'll have to say they did bring their own omnivore protein but, hey, the majority of the meal was vegan! That was the first time I cooked a vegan meal for anyone other than my wonderful husband. I need to do that more often; have guests over and cook them a vegan meal!

Spinach Spanakopita & Herbed Feta

I saw these recipes in the May/June 2012 VegNews magazine and just had to try them. And I had some phyllo pastry in the freezer that needed to be used! The recipes are from Catherine Dorrell of messyvegetariancook.com I looked for them on her website but couldn't find them. So you'll have to get a copy of the magazine if you want the recipe. Sorry, I don't want to copy someone else's work on here. Anywhoo, for the spanakopita you have to make the Herbed Feta ahead of time. I made this in the morning; or you can make it the night before.

 For this I bought the extra firm tofu packaged in water. I usually don't buy that kind because it always goes bad before I use it. I usually buy the aseptic cartons of Mori-Nu that you can keep on your shelf. So you simmer the tofu cubes in a mixture of water, lemon juice, salt, basil and oregano and then chill until ready to use.

Herbed Feta

Spinach and Herbed Feta mixture.

This uses a total of 12 phyllo sheets divided with the spinach mixture in between.

 You have to layer each phyllo sheet separately and brush it with olive oil. Not a quick and easy recipe!

The finished product!

It was worth the work! Flaky pastry and yummy filling. I wanted to serve this with a fresh green salad and some homemade vegan ranch dressing but I was so exhausted after getting this in the oven I just cooked up some frozen veggies. My hubby and I finished off all but two pieces of the 9x13 pan. He even suggested I make this for some of our non-vegan friends!

Peach Crumbcake~pg. 255

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Hot from the oven!

A yummy little crumbcake! I used unbleached white whole wheat flour (does that make it a little bit healthier?!) I had just the right amount of frozen peaches that I chopped up and used instead of fresh. A quick, easy dessert if you ever have company coming over; or just make it for yourself!

Post-Op Week Two Boredom!

Went to my 2 week post-op yesterday for my back surgery. Everything's looking good-another four weeks of no driving, no swimming or baths (just showers), no lifting, etc. etc. Still can cook though! My mom drove me to my doctor's appointment and then we went to Sprouts. Whew, grocery shopping wore me out but now my pantry and fridge are well stocked again. Okay, here's how bored I am (and a little OCD); I took pictures of my pantry and fridge! I like everything all neat and organized and yes I alphabetize my small jars of herbs and spices-hee, hee. I didn't take a picture of my fridge in the garage where I store all of the miscellaneous flours, grains, vital wheat gluten, brans, etc., maybe next time. Ooh, I also took some pics of my herb teas I make along with bath salts, aromatherapy sprays and my herb closet. Have fun looking at the pics!