Baked Leek and Sweet Potato Gratin

I must be craving sweet potatoes because it seems like I've made a lot of recipes lately using them. I found this one here at vegetariantimes.com. I did a few minor adjustments to the recipe after reading some of the comments.* 

 I love the sweetness of cooked leeks. *I used six leeks instead of three. 

 Lots of fresh rosemary and garlic-yum! *I added 3 cups chopped spinach to the sauteed leeks and let the spinach wilt. 

 Thinly sliced sweet potatoes.

 Instead of Italian seasoned bread crumbs and Romano cheese *I used Panko bread crumbs (6 instead of 3 Tbsp), 1 tsp. of Italian seasoning, fresh chopped rosemary and 2 Tbsp. vegan parmesan. It smelled and tasted heavenly. 

 The recipe calls for using a 10" round pan; *I used a 2 qt. dish and it worked just fine. 

~ Baked Leek and Sweet Potato Gratin ~ 

I served the gratin with a green salad and some Gardein Crispy Tenders. The hubby really liked this. 

I made a long time favorite this week ~ Spinach Artichoke Pasta and served it with another favorite ~ Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Garlic from Vegan With a Vengeance.

I made a quick and easy meal last night of Lentil & Black Bean Soup which I had previously frozen and Wolffie's "Buttermilk" Cornbread from La Dolce Vegan. 

Green & Red Lentil Enchiladas

I have had the ingredients to make these enchiladas for awhile now and I finally felt well enough to try it out. The recipe is from Peas and Thank You and is fairly simple to put together. I have made many enchilada casseroles in my day and that is what I chose to do with this one. Rolling the lentil filling into each individual corn tortilla is time-consuming, messy and not necessary. I just tore the  corn tortillas in pieces and made three layers with the lentil filling and cheese and then topped it with more cheese, the green enchilada sauce and black olives. Sooo much easier and still just as delicious! 

~ Green and Red Lentil Enchilada Casserole ~

I topped the enchiladas with shredded romaine, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, green onions, and some picante sauce. This makes great left-overs; it's a keeper and the hubby agrees. 

Two quick and easy meals when I don't feel like cooking:

Bean Burritos! 

Marc's Magnificent Noodles

from The Garden of Vegan

Lots of yummy soba noodles along with spinach, garlic, miso, flax oil and green onions.

Hungry Jill Casserole

I really wanted to try this recipe from Cookin' Crunk because I loved the "Hungry Jack" version growing up. If you don't know what that is - ground beef, pork n' beans, cheese, and canned biscuits! There are a few steps before you can actually put this casserole in the oven. 

 Recipe for Ground TSP Beef. (I call it TVP-texturized vegetable protein) 

This makes a savory beef substitute rehydrating the TVP with water, soy sauce (Bragg's), vegan Worcestershire, and onion powder. I might make some and keep in the freezer. 

 I then made her recipe for Memphis-Style Barbecue Sauce. 

A tasty tangy, sweet flavor. 

 The next step is to make the biscuits for the topping and then combine the TVP, Great Northern beans, BBQ sauce and some other seasonings and top it with the cut biscuits and some Daiya cheddar. Finally, it cooks for 30 minutes! I made the barbeque sauce and Ground TSP Beef in the morning so it didn't take too long to put together for supper. 

~ Hungry Jill Casserole ~

A hearty casserole which the hubby loved. 

I still miss the original "hungry jack" version though. :(

Crafting and (Not) Cooking

Oh, how easy it is to get out of the habit of cooking. Especially when you're focused on lots of other things. I had a successful day at a local craft show Saturday even though it was scorching hot (is this really October?) I've been fighting the symptoms of severe sinus issues for months now; I have surgery in a week and a half to solve that problem. Yay! And we're finally getting back to our cabin in Sedona this week; aahh, cooler weather and some autumn colors. 

I found this easy pantry friendly one dish recipe in Supermarket Vegan by Donna Klein.

You combine a 28 oz can of vegetarian baked beans, some cooked pasta and green onions. Then top it with some French-fried onions. So easy, yet so tasty. I wanted some more seasoning so I added a little chipotle hot sauce and a sprinkle of season salt. I also topped the casserole with some Daiya cheddar shreds. The hubby loved this. 

 ~ Baked Beans & Macaroni Casserole with Crunchy Fried Onions ~

served with steamed broccoli and garlic bread 

 Ingredients for Cousin Natasha's Everything But the Kitchen Sink Vegetable Curry 

from La Dolce Vegan.

This is one of my favorite recipes from LDV. My daughter actually reminded me how yummy it is when she said she was going to make it. So I had to go shopping for a few ingredients to put this together. Lots of veggies, chickpeas and some sweet raisins. 

 Simmering all the veggies.

I served the veggie curry over some tri-color quinoa. Yum! 

Last night, I needed to use up all my veggies in the fridge so I made Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Garlic from Vegan With a Vengeance and Roasted Holiday Vegetables from La Dolce Vegan. I had some baby eggplants from a neighbor's garden that I added to the roasting veggies which was delish. I served the roasted vegetables with some MorningStar Farms BBQ Riblets. 

September Craziness!

 ~ Happy Autumn Equinox! ~ 

We don't see too many leaves this color around here and the temps are still in the 100 degrees but things really get hopping this time of year. As you can see I didn't have too much success with Vegan MoFo! We spent a wonderful week in Iowa visiting my hubby's family; I have been busy making teas, incense and other goodies for a local craft show next month; babysitting grandkids and celebrating our oldest grandson's 4th birthday! The cooking I did do used a lot of convenience foods and whatever food I had left in the fridge and freezer after our Iowa trip. So, here's a rundown on the last two weeks! I did try four new recipes with mixed results.

 I found these StarLite cuisine frozen meals at Sprouts. They have a whole line of taquitos and enchiladas. I like to keep my freezer stocked when I don't have time to cook. Very tasty!

 ~ Sauteed Collards ~
I love collard greens! I'm always looking in my cookbooks for different ways to cook them. I found this recipe in Veganomican. Yum! I served the collards with some baked potatoes and Gardein Crispy Tenders.

~ Basic Guacamole ~
I had an avocado ready to expire! and this recipe is another one from Veganomican. Yes, it's really basic; lime (too much), onion, salt and pepper. But it was a quick, easy way to use up that overly ripe avocado. She does give optional ingredients to add like cilantro, jalapeno and garlic which I didn't have which would have spiced it up.

~ Spinach, Peppers and  Cherry Tomatoes with Penne Rigate ~
I was browsing recipes online and found this at vegetariantimes. I had some roasted red peppers I had frozen, so this was a quick meal to put together. Everything gets cooked in a skillet and then tossed with cooked pasta. I sprinkled some red pepper flakes on top for a little spice.

 ~ Hot Tamale Pie ~
I love a good tamale pie and sadly this one didn't turn out. The recipe is from Cookin' Crunk and sounded really good. I think I must have used cornmeal that was too fine because the cornmeal really never thickened up to the right consistency. The filling had pinto beans and lots of spice and was really delicious. I poured the cornmeal mixture over the bean mix and went ahead and cooked it. Not a success. It was like eating cornmeal mush mixed with chili. The flavors were good so that's the way I ate it. I would like to try this again with a different kind of cornmeal.

I was so excited to see these frozen tamales at Sprouts!

Easy to steam in the microwave.

 I served the tamales with some homemade Spanish rice and Smoky Collard Greens with Vegan Bacon from Betty Goes Vegan. Another convenience foods success!

I made some Chili Dogs one night using Yves vegan hot dogs and a can of Sprouts spicy vegan chili. I had some hot dog buns in the freezer! and used those. I topped the chili dogs with some chopped onion and Daiya cheddar shreds and served them with some sweet potato fries!

My new favorite frozen "chicken". I used the Southwest Style to make some Chicken-Free Fajitas.

I sauteed a little red and yellow bell pepper in some olive oil along with the chicken-free strips. I would have used more peppers but that was all I had.

~ Chicken-Free Fajitas ~
I layered the sauteed chicken-free strips and bell peppers in a warmed flour tortilla then topped them with Daiya cheddar shreds, cilantro, green onions, chopped tomatoes and romaine lettuce and a few dashes of Tabasco sauce for some hotness! YUM!!!

Here's to a new week (hopefully with more fresh ingredients incorporated-hehe). Well, I did do some green juicing so that counts!

Taco Casserole

Day 2 of Vegan MoFo 2014

Since we're heading to Iowa in a couple of days I might not be too successful this year at posting every day! Too busy having fun; I'll have to play catch-up when we get home. 

Someone had shared this recipe on FB. Of course it wasn't vegan, so I decided to try and veganize it. 

I usually don't use veggie crumbles as they bother my stomach. But these Gardein Beefless Ground crumbles tasted like the real thing and didn't bother me! 

Lots of easy pantry staples to make this casserole.
Instead of the preservative laden packaged taco seasonings I used my homemade Taco Seasoning from Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook. I also used the Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup recipe from Cookin' Crunk instead of a can.

Making the beefless ground sauce mixture. (doesn't look too appetizing, yet) 

I used organic corn tortilla chips for the bottom layer. 

I garnished the Taco Casserole with some cilantro and chipotle habanero sauce and served it with a big green salad. 

Taco Casserole:

1 pkg. Gardein Beefless Ground
1 Tbsp. Taco Seasoning (or 1 1 1/4 oz. envelope)
1 1/4 C. homemade vegan mushroom soup (or 1 10 1/2 oz. can)
8 oz. vegan No-Beef Broth
1 14 oz. can Ro-Tel tomatoes
4-6 oz. shredded vegan cheddar (I used Daiya)
1 8 oz. bag tortilla chips
chopped cilantro for garnish

       Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix taco seasoning, soup, broth and tomatoes in medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Put beefless ground in large skillet, heat to medium-low. Add sauce mixture and simmer about 3 minutes. Pour chips into bottom of 9x13 pan (leave whole.) Pour beefless ground mixture over chips. Place cheddar shreds over top. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese looks melted. Garnish with cilantro. This tastes great the next day!

Cheesy Broccoli-Rice Casserole

This recipe from Cookin' Crunk reminded me of the cheese laden casseroles I used to make so I had to try it to see if it measured up. The only negative is some advance prep before you can eat! 

The day before I went ahead and cooked the brown rice and made the Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup recipe. It makes 4 cups so I halved the recipe as the casserole only uses 1 cup of it. I still had some leftover soup so I froze it in 1 cup size. Hopefully, it will thaw alright and I can use it in another recipe. It will be really convenient to have on hand as I can never find vegan cream of mushroom soup at the store. 

For the cheese component you have to make the Basic Cheesy Sauce. Again, I halved the recipe since I only needed one cup. Very flavorful cheese sauce using nutritional yeast. 

 Saueeting the broccoli and onion. 

Finally, on to the casserole! Really easy to mix everything together now and put in a casserole dish. The mixture is topped with some breadcrumbs. The recipe called for whole wheat but I used some panko. 

After baking, the breadcrumbs get golden brown under the broiler. 

~ Cheesy Broccoli-Rice Casserole ~

Yum! A very healthy, tasty substitute for my old-style broccoli cheese casserole. 

Tater Tot Casserole

This is the first new cookbook I've bought this year! I'm so proud of myself but I couldn't hold out any longer. I love the recipes in here. Easy, recognizable ingredients and lots of photos. 

I knew the first recipe I had to try was the Tater Tot Casserole. I grew up on those little processed spuds! I did buy organic Cascadian Farms Spud Puppies for this; so they're a little healthier. There are a few steps to this recipe before you can put it all together and get it in the oven. First, I had to make my Savory Broth Mix which will be used in future dishes. 

The Savory Broth Mix has 1 cup nutritional yeast flakes and thirteen other spices and seasonings in it! You whirl it all up in the blender and it makes about a cup. 

The next step is preparing the soy curls. They simmer in the Savory Broth, drained and then are browned in a little oil. 

A sauce is made with onions, soymilk and a tablespoon of the Savory Broth Mix. Then it all gets mixed together with the soy curls and some peas and topped with the tater tots. This makes a big 9x13 pan so we have plenty of leftovers. 

Mmm! mmm! A yummy, meaty down-home casserole. The hubby loved it.