Fishless Tacos with Lime-Cilantro Crema and Kale Salad

I was so excited to see this package of organic kale salad at Fry's. There is even a simple dressing recipe on the back; sweet and sour with rice vinegar and sugar. I added extra lemon to make it more tangy. 

Oooh, Gardein fishless filets! Target store carries a lot of meatless products. I knew I had to make some 'fish' tacos. So easy. 

I adapted a non-vegan recipe I found for a tasty Lime-Cilantro crema to top my fishless tacos. 

LIME-CILANTRO CREMA;

1/4 C thinly sliced green onions

1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro

3 Tbsp Vegenaise

3 Tbsp vegan sour cream

1 tsp grated lime peel

1 1/2 tsp fresh lime juice

1/4 tsp salt

1 garlic clove, minced

***combine all ingredients and use as topping for fishless tacos. 

I used a plain old white flour tortilla as my wrapper; layered two fishless filets, shredded cabbage, sliced mini peppers and some Lime-Cilantro Crema. I also added a few dashes of chipotle pepper sauce to mine.

~ Fishless Tacos with Lime-Cilantro Crema and Kale Salad ~ 

Yum!! The hubby really liked these; he said I could make this again. 

Pasta with Vegan Alfredo Sauce

Whoo! Hoo! Day 3 of posting catch-up and I made it to Pilates today; I got the endorphins going! 

I was craving something creamy and delicious and this recipe did the trick. I found this on Nava Atlas's site VegKitchen - Vegan Alfredo Sauce 

 It's so easy to make the sauce in the food processor. You can use either silken tofu or cannellini beans. I chose to use the tofu and it made it really creamy. I had some spinach-basil pasta I wanted to use and so I tossed that with the Alfredo Sauce. Then I topped the pasta with some steamed broccoli and Gardein Chik'n Scallopini. Yum!!

~ Pasta with Vegan Alfredo Sauce ~ 

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. :(

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. 

Fast & Fresh Tomato Sauce & My Favorite Kale Salad

I try to keep kale, cherry tomatoes, avocado, carrots and onions in my fridge so I can always make my favorite kale salad when the mood strikes me! It also has a 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa mixed in. 

The recipe is in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegan's Daily Companion. It tastes even better the next day.

I had these six ripe organic tomatoes that were begging to be eaten so I went to my trusty La Dolce Vegan cookbook for an easy recipe. The Fast & Fresh Tomato Sauce is simply that-"fast and fresh."

Chopped tomatoes, onion, garlic and some spices simmered for about 20 minutes.

My basil plant taking over my kitchen window.

My rosemary taking over the other side of the window.

These Gardein meatless meatballs are the best veggie meatballs I have tried so far. They're really meaty, spicy and hold together well and they are huge! You only need two meatballs per person. 

I served the Tomato Sauce over some fettuccine and topped it with fresh basil and some vegan parmesan. 

Bar-B-Q Chicken Sandwich and Coleslaw

Two more delicious recipes from Give Them Something Better. I love BBQ sandwiches and coleslaw and when I attend a big event it always seems to be the usual fare along with pinto beans so I'm left with nothing to eat.  Now I can enjoy this meat-free version anytime! 

The pre-soaked soy curls along with onion and green bell pepper. 

This recipe makes a very tasty BBQ sauce for the soy curls without all the additives in a store-bought bottle. 

The coleslaw is very easy to make. After shredding the cabbage in the food processor you add carrot, vegan mayonnaise, lemon juice, green onion, sugar and salt. Yum! It tastes just like my grandma used to make. The hubby really, really liked this meal. It's a keeper. 

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. 

Fish-Friendly Tapenade~pg. 63

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I had made this before and spread it on toasted bread; which was delicious. The challenge suggested using it on pasta. Didn't know how that was gonna turn out. After blending all the ingredients in the food processor I tasted it and whoo was it salty! Well, it did have Kalamata olives, capers and 1/4 tsp salt; next time I'll leave the salt out. I went ahead and boiled my pasta, stirred in the tapenade and added one cup of Daiya mozzarella shreds to lighten up the taste of the tapenade. It did wonders! It tasted even better when I chopped up my roasted asparagus and ate that mixed in with it. So, in the end, I will probably make this again with my additions and less salt!

Mock Beef & Rice Noodle Toss~pg. 135; Teriyaki Marinade~pg. 300

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Delicious! I've made this before using the Faux Beef (seitan) but this time I had some Gardein Beefless Tips I needed to use. They marinated perfectly in the Teriyaki Marinade. I also ended up using the whole recipe of the marinade because I added extra veggies. Clean out the fridge! I had an organic zucchini and some organic kale begging to be used. I sauteed the zucchini with the onions and added the kale with the edamame at the end.

Served this on top of rice noodles~yum!

Claire's "Cheeze" Sauce~pg. 175

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Whoo! Hoo! Now this definitely satisfies my cheese cravings. Rich, creamy and delicious. I chose to make a simple mac & cheese dish tonight. I used 1/2 C. Daiya cheddar and a 1/2 C. Daiya mozzarella for the cheese. I can't wait to make some more dishes using this sauce. I'm thinking a pasta dish with grilled asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes and Gardein chicken to start. Mmm mmm!

I served my mac & cheese with a side of sauteed Swiss chard. I sprinkled a little Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning on top for some extra flavor. This is the kind of macaroni & cheese I can make for the grandkids when they come to visit.

Portobello Cannelloni with Sun-Dried Tomato White Sauce~pg. 130

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

This is awesomely delicious but messy to make; I even used a plastic bag to fill the shells and it was still messy. The sauce recipe for this is excellent; I'm going to make it again and just serve it over plain pasta.

Eggplant Parmesan~pg 145; Quick All-Purpose Garlic Tomato Sauce~pg 179

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Loved this! It really helped to salt the eggplant to take out the bitterness. I don't think I've ever done that before and you can really tell the difference. I doctored up the sauce by adding a tsp. of Italian seasoning, some chopped fresh basil and another tsp. of agave nectar. This recipe was time-consuming but so worth it. I used the brown rice like she suggested in her recipe. Next time I'll use some pasta!

This got a thumbs-up from my husband but he didn't like the brown rice with it either.

Wolffie's Nutritional Yeast "Cheese" Sauce~175; Rainbow Greens

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

A good, quick nutritious 'cheese' sauce to whip up for anything. After I took the picture I added some Garlic Herb Seasoning to spice it up a little. I served my macaroni and 'cheese' with Rainbow Greens from Everyday Happy Herbivore.

Red Lentil Sauce~pg. 182

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I chose to serve my red lentil sauce over soba noodles. I really like the flavor of this sauce; the 1/4 tsp. cinnamon gives it a spicy, sweet flavor. It's so easy to make I'll be using this one alot!

Nana's Pesto Pin-Wheel Rolls~pg. 55

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Tyler & Phoebe's Perfect Pesto Sauce~pg. 177

Basil-one of my favorite herbs; next to cilantro, that is!

They look like seashells!

After reading Joel's post about cooking these I decided to follow the prepping and cooking directions on the puff pastry box. I didn't roll out the dough, I left it the size it was. I also baked these at 400 degrees for 15 minutes as it suggested. They turned out great. Well, since I had half a bowl of pesto left and another puff pastry sheet already thawed out I decided to try a quick version of this recipe. Making pinwheels and trying to cut them is too labor-intensive for me! I patted my puff pastry dough into a jelly-roll size pan and spread the remaining pesto on top.

This is why it's called 'puff' pastry! You should have seen it in the oven; I thought it was gonna explode. It still tastes delicious though.

I cut these into squares with scissors;

 guess what I had for breakfast with a glass of soymilk?!

Curry Almond Burgers~pg. 160

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge: (There is no Vegan Culinary Institute website so I'm not going to reference it anymore. If it gets up and running again then I will gladly give it credit. We're on our own, baby!)

As you can see my burgers fell apart! So I just ad-libbed and turned them into "Hot Sloppy Curry". I made an 'off the top of my head' sauce of 2 Tbsp. apricot fruit spread, 1 Tbsp. tamari and 2 tsp. sriracha hot chili sauce. Tastes mighty fine! You could use less hot chili sauce depending on how spicy you like it.

I really like the taste of these curry 'burgers'. It will be easier when I make them again not messing with trying to form burgers.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls~pg. 165

Vegan Culinary Institute La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Quick All-Purpose Garlic Tomato Sauce (pg. 179)

Be aware there is a typo when the sauce recipe is listed in the Stuffed Cabbage Rolls. The can of tomato paste is listed as (1) 15.5 oz. can instead of (1) 5.5 oz. can. That would be a mighty big can of tomato paste if you used a 15 oz. can! I have made this sauce before and added fresh basil and Italian seasoning. It's a good, quick pasta sauce.

A nice side view so you can see the cute little cabbage rolls.

I ended up making eight cabbage rolls. I've always hesitated making this recipe because it looked too time-consuming. But everything went together fairly quickly.

A close-up of all the yummy goodies inside the roll.

I love using bulgur; it gives it a nice, chewy texture along with the mushrooms.

Perfect Pesto Potato Salad~pg 88

Vegan Culinary Institute La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:



I LOVE basil! I could have eaten this salad warm but I'll wait and chill it awhile. I used cherry tomatoes instead of the sundried tomatoes and thawed frozen green beans. I'm going to serve this with some of the Kalamata & Sun-Dried Tomato Soda Bread (pg 265) we had made earlier. I sliced it and put it in the freezer so I can just take out a few slices at a time.

Jay-Lo's Fried "Chicken"~pg 167

Vegan Culinary Institute La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Mmm! Mmmm! This satisfies my craving for fried chicken without killing the bird! I fried my"chicken" in canola instead of the olive oil. My seitan broth never boils all the way down so I used the leftover flour coating, some cornstarch and soymilk and made a delicious brown gravy. Reminds me of my mama's fried chicken dinners; now just more compassionate. Even my husband likes this; he walked in this evening while I was cooking and made that "mmmm" sound! On the health side no cholesterol!