Cacciatore Noodle Bake

Another great recipe from Vegan on the Cheap. I had some Simple Simmered Seitan I had made a few months ago and frozen. It was so easy to thaw out and use in this delicious dish.

Browning the seitan cubes.

Cooked fettuccine and the browned seitan.

Sauteeing onions, bell pepper, mushrooms and garlic.

All combined in a casserole dish along with some canned tomatoes and spices and baked in the oven for 30 minutes. So simple!

Yay! My Sprouts market has Go Veggie! Vegan Parmesan.

Cacciatore Noodle Bake with a side of steamed broccoli. 

Barley Vegetable Stew

Celebrating the start of autumn with a nice hearty stew. This recipe is from Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson. It's so easy to throw everything in the slow cooker in the morning and then I get to smell it cooking all day! I'm glad I was home to watch it because it didn't take 8 hours to cook like the recipe stated. 

A great, big slow cooker full of stew. This filled up my 4 quart size Crock Pot. Lots of yummy veggies, barley and Great Northern beans.

This is definitely a thick, hearty, homey stew. I like my food a little spicier so I added some Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce on top of mine. Perfect with some crusty Italian Herb garlic bread.

Time to make some more Italian Bread Herb Mix. This dried herb mix comes from Herb Mixtures & Spicy Blends. Last Christmas I quadrupled the recipe and packaged bottles up for gifts along with other herby items. 

Autumn Equinox and Quinoa Salad

Aww-I missed posting yesterday. I was enjoying the first day of autumn! We were invited to a neighborhood potluck and it was such a nice, cool evening last night. It was still 80 degrees but better than 108! 

I just got The China Study Cookbook in the mail so I thought I would try a salad out of it to take to the potluck. I always like a good quinoa salad. 

Lemon Tahini Quinoa Salad

A nice, bright salad but it was a little bland tasting. I'm glad I had this to eat at the potluck because that was literally all I had to choose from other than some cooked pasta noodles with Italian dressing on them. Next time I'm going to bring a hot casserole dish with a little more substance. This salad tasted better the next day over some baby spinach and a little salad dressing.

Garlicky Greens and Gnocchi

Sprouts had a big buy one, get one free sale. I love these Rising Moon Organics Gnocchi. Another favorite is their Vegan Spinach Florentine Ravioli. This was an easy and quick meal to fix tonight.

I always keep Muir Glen pasta sauces on hand for quick meals.

I had to make a double recipe of the Citrus, Black Pepper and Cheese Cauliflower from Betty Goes Vegan. Yum!

I rounded out the meal with some Simple Garlicky Greens from Wild About Greens by Nava Atlas. An easy, flavorful way to eat your greens. I used spinach and arugula this time. Instead of the salt and black pepper I sprinkled Slavo Salt on top. And my ever-favorite Faux Parmesan Garlic Bread!

Irish Coffee Whoopie Pies & Whiskey Frosting

I bet that title caught your attention. It caught mine when I was skimming through Betty Goes Vegan! My Pilates class was cancelled today so what could I do but bake?! 

I specifically went and bought Bushmill's Irish Whiskey for this recipe:

I've never tried this before; my hubby says it's very smooth! 

Couldn't wait to try out my Whoopie Pie Pan which I found at the outlet store. I want to buy another one so I don't have to bake two batches.

I even bought a frosting gun so I could easily fill the whoopie pie pan and also the middle of the cookies. 

I filled some of the cups with a little too much batter the first go 'round but I got the hang of it the second time.

Irish Coffee Whoopie Pies with Whiskey Frosting 

Whoo-eee! These are scrumptious and definitely an adult treat!

A Favorite Lunch

I love this recipe from La Dolce Vegan for Seaweed Soup. I never would have tried it but I was doing a year-long challenge to cook through the cookbook. This is one of those that I have to eat on my own; my hubby would never eat seaweed AND tofu! The package of roasted seaweed has about ten sheets in it and the recipe only uses one so it was time to make this soup again as the package has been in my pantry awhile. (Still working on clearing it out.)

Ingredients for Seaweed Gomasio from La Dolce Vegan. 

I buy roasted sesame seeds so I can skip the step of browning the seeds. This is a great garnish for the Seaweed Soup.

I use an old sesame seed jar to hold my Seaweed Gomasio.

One of my favorite noodles. I really like buckwheat soba noodles but I was out of them. I order them from Eden Organic. The only soba noodles I can find in the stores have eggs in them.

Seaweed Soup 

I add cubed tofu to mine. It is garnished with a splash of lime juice, green onions and gomasio. This recipe makes 2 servings but I seem to eat it all!

New Goodies

I've been seeing rave reviews for the new Maple Bacon flavor Kettle Brand Potato Chips so I thought I would put them up against my fave of all time Spicy Thai. The Maple Bacon chips taste like a mild version of a BBQ chip. No comparison to the Spicy Thai; spicy, sweet and salty. Spicy Thai wins!

My local Sprouts did a major renovation and enlarged their store so they can stock alot more goodies now. I saw these nuts and thought I'd give them a try. These are from LivingIntentions. These air dried pistachios and almonds are seasoned with garlic and rosemary. Holy Garlic Bulb, Batman! Do not plan on any close encounters after you eat a few of these. Hehe! They do have a fantastic garlic and rosemary herby flavor but whoo-ee the garlic is strong. They're quite addictive as well. They were pricey at $5.49 for a 3 oz. bag so these will not be a regular treat.

Yay! I got my order of Butler Soy Curls in the mail today and a bottle of their Chik-Style Seasoning. I love the texture of tempeh but I'm allergic to the fermentation process used. So soy curls are a great alternative. They use non GMO soybeans with no additives or preservatives. I like the meaty texture they give to my recipes and they help my hubby feel like he's getting a 'real meal.' 

Waffles, Grandsons and Nachos

I had a surprise visit from my two favorite grandsons this morning. James, almost 3 and Max, almost 2.

Playing in the mud

 They kept going into the pantry to get snacks so I thought I would make them some waffles! They are bottomless pits when it comes to food. I've had this taped up on the inside of my kitchen cupboard 'forever.' I don't even remember where I got the recipe. But it's the best vegan waffle recipe I have tried.

A plate full of waffles! We were so excited to eat our waffles I forgot to take a picture after we topped them with Earth Balance margarine, mixed strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and maple syrup. Mmmm! They were a hit!

I was shopping at Sprouts yesterday and was so excited to see Daiya Jack wedge. They are expanding the store so I hope to see more yummy products soon. The wedge is so easy to grate into shreds. 

My semi-guilty pleasure~Nachos!

 Daiya cheddar and Jack cheese melted over organic yellow corn tortilla chips topped with jalapenos and dipped in Pace Picante sauce. 

I must have needed extra carbs today. 

Recipe "Re-do"

I thawed out some leftover Lentil Sloppy Joes for tonight. Still trying to clean out the freezer and pantry. Instead of eating it on buns I served the lentils over brown rice and quinoa. I also remade the Smoky Collard Greens with Vegan Bacon and I actually used collard greens this time.

The last time I made this recipe I mistakenly picked up Swiss chard instead of the collard greens. Picture evidence that I got the right greens this time! The collard greens take about 30 minutes of boiling time to cook and are then mixed in with the rest of the ingredients. This is the best recipe ever for collard greens (or Swiss chard!) I even used two bunches of greens and doubled the recipe.

Lentil Sloppy Joes over Brown Rice & Quinoa with 

Smoky Collard Greens with Vegan Bacon

Sunday Supper Frittata

So I'm literally making this frittata for "Sunday supper."  I had some tofu that was getting ready to expire and I found this recipe in Vegan On the Cheap by Robin Robertson. 

I like this recipe because it's so versatile. You can add whatever veggies you have on hand. I used potatoes, mushrooms, spinach and broccoli. 

The frittata has a tofu, nutritional yeast, spice mixture combined in the blender and spread over the top of the veggies. It creates an eggy like texture over them. I have some Vegg powder which I should have added to the mixture to give it an eggy taste. I definitely will try that next time.

This is supposed to make 4 servings but my hubby and I ate the whole frittata ourselves; I would say this was a success!

Golden Veggie Bouillon Powder & White Bean Barley Soup

Another slow cooker day! 

From Vegan Slow Cooking for Two or Just For You by Kathy Hester

I'm still looking for recipes to use up all my assorted grains, etc. and this one calls for barley. The only ingredient I needed to buy was the mushrooms. I first made the bouillon powder which is a quick and easy way to substitute for vegan bouillon cubes. You use 2 Tbsp. of the seasoning mix for 1 cube.

Ingredients for the Golden Veggie Bouillon Powder. 

You just blend everything in the food processor and you're ready to go. I did notice a typo in the amount this yields: it makes 3/4 cup not 1/4 cup as is printed.

The soup recipe called for jalapeno powder, which I've never heard of, so I used my Cajun Spice blend instead. I also didn't add another 1/2 tsp. of thyme since the bouillon powder had plenty of thyme in it. The liquid smoke added after cooking really highlighted all the rich, hearty flavor of the beans, barley and mushrooms. 

White Bean Barley Soup with Faux Parmesan Garlic Bread