Rosemary Potatoes & Collard Greens with Vegan Sausage

I'm so glad I had a couple of Tofurky Italian sausages in the freezer so I could make this dish. I found the recipe in Wild About Greens and it has my favorite greens in it-collard! 

I pre-cooked my potatoes a little too much and they started falling apart. 

Fresh rosemary, paprika and red pepper flakes give this a just right spicy seasoning. 

 ~ Rosemary Potatoes & Collard Greens with Vegan Sausage ~

My big cup of rosemary! I just transplanted it into this giant teacup; it had outgrown the little container it was in. 

We went to a neighborhood potluck this weekend and my friend made a vegan dish just for me! A curried butternut squash and brown rice casserole. So sweet! I knew there wouldn't be much else in the way of veggie food so I made a huge green salad with lots of veggies. I also brought containers of walnuts and dried cranberries to toss in the salad. I wanted something sweet to bring so I made a double batch of "Raspberry Apple Crisp" from La Dolce Vegan. Instead of just raspberries I used frozen mixed berries. Everybody loved the crisp (crumble). All of the other desserts were heavy, rich and sugary so it was nice to have a lighter dessert to offer.

Organic apples washed and ready for the crisp! 

Aloo-Yoop Curry Potato Wrap

 Found this great curry flavored recipe in Vegan A Go Go. 

 Lots of yummy flavors-potatoes, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, coconut milk, peas. 

~ Aloo-Yoop Curry Potato (Wrap) ~

This was too soupy to eat in a tortilla so we ate it in a bowl and used the rolled-up tortilla to use as a scoop. I garnished the bowl with some chopped cilantro and sriracha sauce. This works much better as a wrap filling the next day after it has a chance to thicken up. 

The Ultimate Corn Chowder Experience

Day 2 of catching up on my posts! I managed to get to the gym yesterday for Pilates after 2 and a half months of doing nothing and finally got my hair cut and highlighted after 3 months. I usually get my hair cut every 6 weeks; it was the longest it's been in a long time. I'm starting to slowly feel like my old self again. 

This soup recipe comes from Betty Goes Vegan and I think they are a little ambitious in the naming of the recipe. I wouldn't say that this is the "ultimate" in corn chowder experiences. heehee It does have the 'ultimate' use of ingredients: potatoes, creamed corn, corn, peas, green beans, chickpeas, hash browns, plus about a dozen assorted seasonings and spices! I do have to say that it was rather good and the hubby liked it. 

~ The Ultimate Corn Chowder Experience ~ 

Look at the state of my Betty Goes Vegan cookbook! I'm so irritated; the whole section of colored photos started slowly falling apart. I've been using clear strapping tape to hold each page in. Ugh! Now more and more pages are falling out. I bought a 1 1/2 " three ring binder and I'm just about ready to rip the cookbook apart and use my 3 hole punch to put it in the binder. Has anyone else's done this?!

Spring Break and Life Happens

Wow~this is the longest I have gone without posting anything since I started my blog. But life happens. My mom had shoulder replacement surgery the end of April. She was home one day and then had a stroke. So it's been 3 1/2 weeks of hospitals, doctors and rehab facilities. She is home now and on the road to recovery. I am so thankful that myself and my two siblings live close by to take care of our sweet mama. Our meals have consisted of hospital cafeteria food; finding relatively healthy choices at fast food joints and not-so healthy choices!; and making quick meals using Gardein products and pasta dishes. I have just now felt like picking up a cookbook and trying some new recipes. I finally restocked my fridge, which was down to the condiments, with lots of veggies and fruit. I also had a birthday during all of this and my dear friend left me this lovely strawberry plant on my front porch. I didn't know what it was and had to ask her!

~ a cute little strawberry! ~ 

Breakfast; well, since each one was only the size of my pinky I did have something else to eat! 

It's already getting some more strawberries. I hope I get a few more before the heat takes over. We skipped right over cool spring weather and headed right into the heat of summer. 

Blueberry Hemp Cinnamon Crunch Muffins

I made these yummy muffins last month and never posted about them. I even bought another bag of hemp seeds to make them again! Lots of luscious blueberries and not too sweet. Vegan Thyme has the recipe on her blog. 

Wheat Berry Minestrone

I used the last of my wheat berries to make this delicious soup. The wheat berries give it lots of chewy, meaty texture. The recipe is on Dr. Grandma's. 

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes 

from Betty Goes Vegan

My hubby brought me a box of freshly harvested red potatoes straight from the field still covered in dirt. This is a quick and easy recipe to use them. I think they could have roasted a little longer to get more brown but they were still tasty.

Chik'n Enchiladas

This last recipe I whipped up the other night using ingredients I had in my pantry and freezer. I cooked up three Gardein Chik'n Scallopini and chopped them into pieces. I rolled them into six corn tortillas with a little Daiya cheddar sprinkled on top. Topped everything with the Frontera Red Chile Enchilada Sauce and covered that with more Daiya cheddar. Baked for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, added a salad and had dinner ready!  

 Really handy to have in the pantry. Read the ingredients on the different flavors; some of them are not vegan. 

Chik'n Enchiladas

I topped the enchiladas with some chopped cilantro and green onions. 

I'm ready to get back in the kitchen and try some new recipes!

Spicy Greens & Cajun Fries

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

~ The Happy Herbivore: Spicy Greens; Cajun Fries

~garlic powder, onion powder and flakes, paprika and cayenne~ 

So easy to make these potatoes and so yummy. I found some cooking spray that doesn't have propellants in it. Yuch! This grapeseed oil spray only has the grapeseed oil in it. I found that I didn't need alot of oil for these potatoes to get nice and brown and tasty. 

Sauteeing the collard greens, garlic and onions in water. Love me some collard greens! 

I browned some sliced Tofurky Italian Sausages for the Spicy Greens. These sausages have a little spicy kick to them!

Cajun Fries and Spicy Greens with Tofurky Italian Sausage

Hubby enjoyed everything tonight. I'm surprised since it was all a little spicy! 

"Crab" Cakes, Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

~ Everyday Happy Herbivore: "Crab" Cakes; Remoulade 

Love these 'crab' cakes! A delicious combination of pressed shredded tofu, chopped oyster mushrooms and lots of seasonings; these definitely take the place of fishy crab cakes. Her recipes use no oil but instead of using the vegan mayo recipe she suggests, I used Vegenaise so my 'crab' cakes do have some oil. Maybe that's why they tasted so good! I also made the Remoulade sauce to smear on top of these. Again, I used Vegenaise along with the ketchup, dill pickle, mustard, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice and Tabasco to make a tasty, spicy topping.

 ~ The Happy Herbivore: Dirty Mashed Potatoes; Dijon-Herb Green Beans

Mashing the Dirty Potatoes

These are called dirty because you leave the skins on the potatoes. This recipe called for 2 Tbsp. of garlic powder; I cut that down to 1 Tbsp. Of course no "butter" is called for so I added some Earth Balance margarine when I ate mine! 

Mixing the green beans in the Dijon-Herb sauce. 

Instead of all the herbs and spices this calls for I used 2 1/2 tsp. of my Italian seasoning blend. 

I thought the flavor of the sauce was great but the hubby wasn't particularly fond of it. Maybe the combination of Dijon mustard, lemon juice and the herbs was too much for him. He likes things "plain jane". I should have just cooked some plain ol' green beans for him! 

"Crab" Cakes, Remoulade, Dirty Mashed Potatoes and Dijon-Herb Green Beans

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!

Hearty Winter Potato Soup

Vegcookbookclub December 2013 ~ 

from How It All Vegan: 

I seem to be on a soup kick lately. So easy to throw everything into one pot and end up with a warm homey meal. I loved the potato soup my mom made when I was growing up. Of course it used dairy milk and was rich and creamy and you couldn't have it without chopped bacon in it. So I thought I would give this one a try and see if it would compare.

I've never made potato soup with red bell peppers. For the vegetable stock I used Better Than Bouillon's No Chicken Base. 

Love these little Bac'Uns. They don't have that yucky red coloring that others do. 

I just used my handheld blender to blend this up right in the soup pot. I left a few chunks of potato for some texture. I topped the soup with some Daiya cheddar shreds, chopped green onions, fresh ground black pepper and some Bac'Uns. The soup is yummy and comforting but still doesn't come close to Mom's potato soup! 

Curry and Brussels Sprouts

Vegcookbookclub December 2013 ~
Curry and brussels sprouts?! These two recipes shouldn't go together but surprisingly they worked well and tasted delicious.
Eat, Drink & Be Vegan:  Zucchini Chickpea Tomato Curry
Crazy Sexy Kitchen:        Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pistachios & Cipollini Onions

Love the flavors of this curry. Lots of spices~garlic, ginger, curry powder, fenugreek (a new one for me), coriander and cumin seeds, turmeric and cloves. The aroma in the kitchen as these were sauteeing was intoxicating! Yukon Gold potatoes, zucchini, green beans and chickpeas added the bulk to this recipe. I served it over brown rice. I thought it would be too spicy but the hubby actually liked it. The cilantro and fresh squeezed lime really accented all the flavors. 

Two of my favorite condiments~cilantro and lime!!

This brussels sprouts recipe had several substitutions. First, I pre-cooked the sprouts in the microwave a little bit so they would be done after roasting; I don't like hard sprouts. I couldn't find raw pistachios so I used toasted pine nuts. I tossed them in after roasting was done. I had no idea what cipollini onions were so I used shallots. I just read about cipollini onions and wish I had tried to find some. It sounds like they would have been sweet and carmelized. I used marsala cooking wine instead of the sherry which gave everything a sweeter flavor. Even with all the subs, these roasted brussels sprouts were yummy. I want to try this again with all the original ingredients.

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!

Corned Beefless Brisket and Cabbage ~ pg. 147

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

This is the first recipe I wanted to try when I got this book several months ago and now I'm finally making it. It reminded me of the corned beef and cabbage my mom used to make for us; especially the picture next to page 160 (except the corned beef was a reddish color!) 

Warning-this is not a quick fix meal. Those are my kind of recipes but I just had to try this. I've never bought pickling spice before. It has mustard seed, cinnamon, ginger, bay leaf, red pepper, caraway, allspice, black pepper, coriander and cloves-wow! Very fragrant; I kept wanting to smell the bundle of spices and then I would start sneezing. Duh. The recipe calls for dumping the spices right into the marinating beefless tips and also into the broth and veggies. My mom suggested I put them in cheesecloth and I agreed. I didn't feel like chewing on coriander seeds, etc. This idea worked really well. The flavors mingled with the ingredients and didn't leave any chunks of spice behind. 

cabbage, red potatoes and red onion

Corned Beefless Brisket and Cabbage

I garnished the dish with salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar like the recipe suggested and it tasted delicious. The pickling spices and vegan beef broth gave the veggies a nice spicy, sweet, rich flavor. It is somewhat reminiscent of Mom's corned beef and cabbage but will never be quite the same. My hubby really liked this-he said it's a real "meat and potatoes" meal. Score!

Cooking In the Cabin

Our cozy little cabin in Sedona. It's been in our family for over 40 years! My hubby and I have been working hard as she's been neglected the last few years. We've spent many hours giving this old girl lots of TLC! 

Cooking in the cabin is an adventure. Lots of vintage cookware and utensils; I had to update a few of them. The stove is half functioning as the gas stovetop works but the oven doesn't. So any meals I cook right now are one-pot meals. 

Here is the extent of counter space I have for cooking. Just enough room for my cutting board and ingredients. My hubby installed the undercounter light this time. It was a black hole before and you took your life in your hands trying to chop veggies in the semi-dark! 

I brought a couple of cookbooks; Sarah Kramer's Vegan A Go-Go and an extra copy of How It All Vegan. I ordered another copy of La Dolce Vegan (my favorite cookbook) to keep at the cabin. And my three ring notebook with copies of some of my favorite recipes. I didn't want to try any new recipes from the Veg Cookbook Club cookbook this month. I'll save that for more familiar and larger surroundings. 

From Vegan A Go-Go I made Creamy Curried Veggies. 

A mixture of cauliflower, carrots, onions, cremini mushrooms,coconut milk and lots of curry powder and spices. The recipe called for peas but I used edamame instead. I served this over soba noodles and garnished it with chopped cilantro. Mmm, mmm! This made plenty for leftovers. There is an awesome natural foods store in Sedona- "New Frontiers". I'm in heaven as soon as I walk in the door! All the organic veggies you could ever want and anything else you can think of. I even got to finally try some Daiya Havarti Wedge cheese. Yum! The only Daiya I can get where I live is the shredded. 

The other recipe I made was Smoky Tomato & Kale Soup from VegNews-Nov/Dec 2012 magazine.

This makes a big old pot o' soup! 

Onions, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano, yellow potatoes, canned tomatoes, quinoa and kale makes a hearty, filling soup. We ate leftovers a couple of times and then I froze the rest and brought it home for a future quick meal.

I served the soup with some sourdough garlic bread toasted in my new toaster oven.

Can't wait for more adventures in "Cooking in the Cabin!"