Kheer (Indian Pudding) Oatmeal

A new recipe from a new cookbook! OATrageous Oatmeals by Kathy Hester. 

I love steel-cut oats and I bought these organic Bob's Red Mill oats at Sprout's. 

The oats are cooked in unsweetened non-dairy milk along with raisins and cardamom (which I love!)

 It suggests topping the oats with assorted chopped nuts. I used some almonds and walnuts and sweetened it with some Bee Free Honee. 

~ Kheer (Indian Pudding) Oatmeal ~

This is so yummy and warming for a cool fall day. It made enough for left-overs. 

Light and Fluffy Pancakes or Waffles

My yearly sinus infection finally caught up with me. I looked back at my records and it was exactly a year ago in March that I had it before. Ugh! Drinking lots of green juice; I finally broke down and had to get some antibiotics to knock it out this time. I've just been throwing together easy meals when I don't especially feel like even eating. I did make these pancakes a few days ago to keep a stash in the freezer.

Give Them Something Better

Great cookbook~lots of easy, delicious recipes. 

A pile o' pancakes!

These truly are "light and fluffy" pancakes. They have an addition of a 1/2 cup of cornmeal to give them a little texture that an egg would do. I did add a little more water because the batter seemed a little thick. The hubby really enjoyed these; he said they tasted just like in a restaurant! 

Pancakes & Blueberry Sauce

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

~ The Happy Herbivore: Pancakes; Blueberry Sauce

Mmmm! This is the best vegan pancake recipe I've tried so far. After mixing up the ingredients, you let the batter rest for 10 minutes. The baking powder makes it light and fluffy and it makes a wonderful pourable batter. The blueberry sauce is really easy to make using frozen blueberries. It was a little tart so I added some brown rice syrup to give it a little more sweetness. 

Last Posts of 2013!!!

Vegcookbookclub December 2013 ~

Woot! I accomplished my goal this month of cooking out of the eight cookbooks I had for this last year of the cookbook club. I'm excited to see what 2014 has in store.

from Vegan on the Cheap: White Beans & Lemon Potatoes with Olives & Tomatoes ~ 

~ roasty toasty yumminess ~

Yukon Gold potatoes, cannellini beans, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, capers, garlic, fresh parsley and lemon. A one dish meal! I will definitely add this to my 'make again' list. 

My favorite sun-dried tomatoes. 

I served the roasted potatoes & beans with the best Massaged Kale Salad and

 Dijon Mustard Brussels Sprouts.

from Isa Does It: Carrot Cake Pancakes ~

I finally got a recipe made from this cookbook. I think the tiny print she uses in the recipes (the descriptions and the ingredients lists) discourages me but I got a bright light and squinted real hard and got this made! hehe

~ a stack of carrot cake pancakes ~

If you are starving and in a hurry to eat; don't make this recipe. This requires some extra time and patience. After mixing the batter you're supposed to let it set for 10 minutes. Then to cook the pancakes requires spreading the batter evenly into a circle (it's kind of thick) and letting it cook for 4 minutes on each side. I added the optional chopped walnuts in my batter along with the finely shredded carrots. For all the time it took to make these I'm glad to say they are delicious! I ate a couple with some Earth Balance margarine and maple syrup and froze the rest of them for "quick" breakfasts. 

Here's to the end of 2013 ~ May 2014 bring new cooking adventures!

Gingerbread Waffles

 For December the Vegcookbookclub is cooking out of all the cookbooks we tried in 2013. I have 8 of the 11 cookbooks so my "plan" is to try one new recipe out of each of them. Surely I can make 8 recipes this month! I'm also revisiting a few favorites. My favorite way to eat Swiss chard is from Crazy Sexy Kitchen's recipe "Sauteed Chard".

Vegan Brunch cookbook~The Gingerbread Waffles are yummy!

Fresh grated ginger, cinnamon, cloves and molasses; just like eating a gingersnap cookie.

These smell wonderful! They are even better with some Earth Balance margarine and maple syrup drizzled on top.

A New Cookbook & My Favorite Breakfast!

Well, my first attempt at Vegan MoFo was not quite a success. I did well up until the last week of September and then just fell apart. I think I just ran out of things to say and got tired of cooking. Also, I have a problem with authority; hehe , I don't like being told when to do something and how to do it. Eh, I gave it a shot. Anywhoo, I really, really needed another vegan cookbook (wink, wink). Blame it on VegNews. I like to read their book reviews and this one sounded too good to pass up. I like funky, fun cookbooks and this one fits right in. I'm not a wrestling fan nor am I into punk; I just like a different perspective on life! Bake and Destroy-Good Food for Bad Vegans by Natalie Slater:

I always like to try the tofu scramble recipes in any new cookbook. Plus, I was really hungry this morning! This recipe "The Non-Cop-Out Tofu Scramble" has lots of yummy ingredients and spices. Italian seasoning, garlic, nutritional yeast, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives and spinach. Extra, extra flavorful!

My favorite toast toppings~Earth Balance margarine and Mango Chutney.

Tofu Scramble with hash browns and mango chutney toast. 

I ate every bite! 

Strawberry and Cream Quinoa Porridge ~ pg. 47

VegCookbookClub August recipes from Betty Goes Vegan by Annie & Dan Shannon:

Sweet, creamy and comforting. I added some more soymilk to eat this as it thickened up a little. Makes enough for another breakfast. 

The sign of perfectly cooked porridge~a trashed stove! hehe

Blueberry Banana Bread Pancakes ~ pg. 41

VegCookbookClub August recipes from Betty Goes Vegan by Annie & Dan Shannon:

Nothing like the aroma of banana scented pancakes on the griddle! A late morning breakfast today. I keep overripe bananas in the freezer for recipes like this. The batter was quite thick; you can't pour it onto your griddle. I scooped some out and spread the batter out with the back of a spoon. You don't need much maple syrup as the banana and blueberries give these some natural sweetness. Two of these pancakes and you're ready to start the day. The recipe made about nine pancakes so I froze the rest for easy future breakfasts.

Spiced Apple Waffles ~ pg. 39

VegCookbookClub August recipes from Betty Goes Vegan by Annie & Dan Shannon:

I hadn't made waffles in a long time so I dug in the cupboard and pulled out my waffle iron. These babies will keep you going all day! Whole wheat flour, applesauce and cinnamon make these really tasty. The batter was quite thick and the waffles are kind of dense. Probably from using straight whole wheat flour. I would like to try these again and use only half whole wheat and maybe a little more soymilk to thin out the batter. They were still good with lots of Earth Balance margarine and maple syrup and some extra applesauce spread on top! 

Breakfast Tacos (Scramble) ~ pg. 35

VegCookbookClub August recipes from Betty Goes Vegan by Annie & Dan Shannon:

I was hungry for a big old breakfast with some tofu scramble, hash browns and toast. BGV has a couple different recipes for tofu scramble but this was the easiest and I had all the ingredients. She uses the filling in tacos but it tastes just as delicious with hash browns. I sauteed the red bell pepper along with my spices and then added the tofu. Of course I had to top the scramble with cilantro and avocado. Great breakfast!

Avocado Toast

It has been a rather 'green' morning so far ~ Green tea, green juice, and green toast! I had several avocados in the fridge and wanted to try something different for breakfast. I remembered Chloe's Kitchen had a 'recipe' for this and I decided to try this simple treat. Avocado, olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper; what could be simpler.

This is supposed to serve 2 but what can I say; I ate both of them myself with a glass of soymilk! I used Food for Life Sprouted Grain & Seed Bread for my toast. I might have to continue on with the trend of eating 'green' today and have a big spinach salad for lunch.

Breakfast Casserole

I know this is called 'Breakfast Casserole' but I made it for supper last night. Plenty of leftovers for breakfast though! This is a recipe using The Vegg.

This has a biscuit base layered with vegan sausage crumbles, tofu scramble made with The Vegg and Daiya cheddar shreds. Takes me right back to those sausage and cheese laden (greasy) breakfast bakes I used to make! I made the mistake of baking it a little too long and my biscuit base got a little brown and dry but it still tastes delicious. I also used extra tofu and not enough Vegg so the egg flavor wasn't as strong as it could be. I topped mine with some ketchup and tabasco sauce! I'm going to try and make this again and halve the recipe so we don't have so much leftovers for the two of us. You can find the recipe here: Vegan Breakfast Biscuit Casserole

Breakfast Casserole for supper with sauteed greens and peppers

Rise 'N' Shine Granola~pg 48

VegCookbookClub April recipes from How It All Vegan! by Sarah Kramer & Tanya Barnard:

I almost forgot to post another recipe; where did the month go?! We're already hitting the 100 degree mark here in sunny Arizona. No! I'm not ready yet.

I always like to have some homemade granola on hand. It's not only great with soymilk and berries for breakfast but I love it with soy yogurt or just eating it plain as a snack.

I left out the optional carob/cocoa powder and used ground flax seeds instead of whole. For my sweetener I used turbinado raw cane sugar; it gave it a nice little crunch. 

Classic Pancakes~pg. 44

VegCookbookClub April recipes from How It All Vegan! by Sarah Kramer & Tanya Barnard:

I wanted to share this ridiculously easy meal from Jason Wrobel-love him! Cheesy Broccoli Quinoa Bowl.    When I don't feel like cooking this is what's for supper! I love watching his videos; he's hilarious.  He tops his quinoa bowl with hemp seeds but I use chia seeds-it gives it a nice little crunch. 

Anyway, back to HIAV~

A pile 'o pancakes!

Just a basic pancake recipe, they seemed a little thick and heavy. Hubby didn't really care for them but then he's comparing them to his favorite restaurant's non-vegan pancakes. I added some blueberries to a few of them, slathered them with Earth Balance margarine and drizzled lots of warm maple syrup over them; tasted just fine to me! heehee! I froze the remaining pancakes for some quick breakfasts before I work out after eating all these carbs.

Blackberry Breakfast Bars~pg. 156

VegCookbookClub February recipes from Color Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau:

PURPLE

These are downright yummy! And I don't feel too guilty eating them with all the oats, flaxseed and berries in them. I usually have berries in my fridge so I can whip these up anytime. Just the right amount of sweetness in them, too. 

Spinach/Arugula Scrambled Tofu

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

Love me some scrambled tofu! This recipe calls for baby spinach or arugula; so I used arugula this time. I didn't have any red bell peppers but it tasted just fine without them. I remember the first time I ever heard about or tasted tofu. We were visiting a friend and he made a salad for us with some weird looking white square things in it. I thought it was some kind of cheese but he told us it was tofu-soybean curd. Thus began my 30 year-long love affair with all things veg!

Spinach & Artichoke Frittata

I've been wanting to make this recipe for the last six months! I had a can of artichoke hearts in my pantry that I knew I needed to use. Now, since I can't drive for six weeks because of my back surgery I had the perfect opportunity to use those darn artichoke hearts. And I just happened to have 2 cartons of Mori-Nu tofu and some fresh spinach. This recipe comes from Everyday Happy Herbivore.

You just blend everything except the spinach and artichokes in the food processor and then pop it in the oven. Deliciously easy! I was surprised that the consistency reminded me of an egg dish.

Served my frittata with Dijon Mustard Brussels Sprouts from La Dolce Vegan and some bread spread with Earth Balance margarine, sprinkled with some garlic powder and a little nutritional yeast and broiled. I think I'll have the leftovers for breakfast!   I'm running out of fresh veggies-someone's going to have to take me to the store. :)

My Big Fat Breakfast!

We had gone out for dinner the night before and there were very few options for vegans. Let's just say I had a generic salad with questionable Italian dressing and a big plate of french fries with ketchup and tabasco. Needless to say, the next morning I was craving a big, filling breakfast. I found this tofu scramble recipe "My Big Fat Greek Scramble" in Julie Hasson's cookbook, Vegan Diner. It did the trick!

Nothing smells better and gets the appetite going than the aroma of sauteeing onion, red bell pepper, Kalamata olives and garlic-mmm mmm!

I served my big fat scramble with hash browns, Food for Life 7 Sprouted Grains bread toasted and slathered with Earth Balance margarine and apricot preserves. Wow! I'm getting hungry just looking at this. :)

Black Beans on Toast (Hash Browns)~pg. 42

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I needed a big, hearty breakfast this morning. The doctor cancelled on me yesterday so I still don't know what's going on with my back. Ooh, and then I found out that my wedding video which I was transferring to DVD had been recorded over (???) At least I still have my wedding pictures and most importantly my wonderful, loving Hubby! So, to keep my mind busy I'm cooking. I wanted some nice, crispy hash browns and they are great served with the Black Beans on Toast recipe; just skip the toast. I ate that on the side! I also had some mushrooms that needed to be used so I sauteed them in some Earth Balance margarine and added those on top of the black beans along with some Daiya shredded cheddar. I then topped all of that with some Tabasco sauce and ketchup. Can you tell I'm an emotional eater?! :)

Baked Aporridgy~pg. 49

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

While this was baking it gave me time to pay the bills!

I love the flavor and texture of this baked oatmeal compared to plain old stovetop oatmeal. I added some plain soymilk to make it extra creamy and delicious.