Cooking This Week!

I made a few old favorite recipes this week along with a couple of new ones.

I made this yummy bread for my daughter's family; the grandsons love this. I just bought some more zucchini to make two more loaves.


~ Zucchini Apple Bread ~
Betty Goes Vegan

I had a pound of fresh organic green beans and this recipe I found here. These remind me of my favorite green beans I order at P. F. Chang's. Yum! They could use a little more heat for my taste; a sprinkle of red pepper flakes would be good. 

~ Dry-Sauteed Green Beans ~ 

I served the green beans with another long green veggie-some roasted asparagus; a loaded baked potato and Morning Star Farms BBQ Riblets. 

I've had this cookbook Peas and Thank You for about a year now and I have to admit this is the first recipe I have made out of it. Hmm~I wonder if I have too many cookbooks! It looks like there are lots of delicious recipes; so I'll be trying a few of them soon. 

This smoothie recipe sounded so tasty I had to try it.

Ingredients for smoothie ~ blackberries, lime, basil, ginger and soymilk with stevia to sweeten. It took alot of stevia to sweeten this to my taste. Kind of tart and tangy! 

~ Blackberry Basil Smash Smoothie ~ 

This made enough for two servings so I poured the rest into some popsicle molds for the grandkids. 

Another favorite recipe I like to make is the "Mock Beef & Rice Noodle Toss" from La Dolce Vegan. I have made so many variations of this using whatever veggies I have on hand. The Teriyaki Marinade really brings it all together. I usually end up using all of the marinade and thickening it with a little cornstarch for the sauce. This time I used Gardein Beefless Tips, broccoli and snow peas over quinoa. 

~ Mock Beef & (Rice Noodle) Toss ~

La Dolce Vegan

The lasagna recipe from Chloe's Kitchen is the best! This is the second time I have made this. It's so easy using no-boil lasagna noodles. My brother and his family came to visit the day after I made this. He ate the leftovers and wanted the recipe! I couldn't believe he wanted to make a vegan recipe; I was so thrilled and he wanted to make it for company!

before baking

~ Ooh-La-La Lasagna ~

Chloe's Kitchen

I was so excited to see Beyond Meat chicken at my local Sprouts. They have all the different flavors of chicken but no other products yet. I knew just what I wanted to try it in. Give Them Something Better's cookbook has so many homey, comforting, familiar recipes. I wanted to try the Chicken Stew and Easy Biscuits. 

Easy Biscuits hot from the oven.

 You use whole wheat pastry flour and make them in a muffin pan. They were flavorful but I still like light, airy cut biscuits better. The Chicken Stew tastes just like my grandma's (well, almost!) I should have put the chicken pieces in at the end of cooking because they did get a little spongy but it didn't affect the flavor at all. This makes a big pot of stew; I need to remember to start halving these recipes. 

~ Chicken Stew & Easy Biscuits ~
Give Them Something Better

Now, what to cook for this week?!!

Lentil Stew & Mess O' Greens

It's been a busy week! We welcomed a new granddaughter into the world; little baby Blake Lynn. She joins her big brothers James-3 1/2 and Max 2 1/2. Grandma is going to be busy babysitting! 

I found this Slow-Cooked Lentil Stew recipe in the McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook. So easy to add everything to the Crock Pot and let cook all day. 

Ingredients for the lentil stew. Instead of a vegetable broth it uses 5 cups of V8 juice. 

This makes a Big pot of stew! The first night I served it over some brown rice. The V8 juice gives it a nice hearty flavor. I added 4 cups of chopped spinach for some contrast and extra nutrients. 

The next night I made this recipe for Mess O' Greens from Cookin' Crunk. Collard greens, liquid smoke and turnips.These are really tasty! You let them cook for a good 35 to 40 minutes. 

The Mess O' Greens tasted great with the Lentil Stew and brown rice. I still had some stew left so I put it in the freezer. Three nights of leftovers is too much for me!

This week I also made a favorite cool salad using buckwheat soba noodles.


~ Asian Noodles with Black Vinaigrette ~
from Crazy Sexy Kitchen

I thawed out my previously frozen black beans and made a quick dinner along with some garlic bread.


~ Black Beans ~
from Give Them Something Better

Chickpea Tacos and Dirty (South) Rice

I've been wanting to make these tacos for awhile now and I finally got around to doing it! Such an easy recipe with tasty results from Vegan's Daily Companion by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.

Ingredients for the chickpea tacos: mashed chickpeas, spices, lemon juice and chopped spinach. 

Cooking chickpea taco mixture.

Lots of yummy toppings: Daiya shredded cheddar, shredded cabbage, green onions, cilantro and chopped cherry tomatoes. And you can't have tacos without some hot sauce. I like chipotle habanero hot sauce! 

I was just going to make my usual spanish rice to go with my tacos and then I found this recipe for Dirty (South) Rice in Cookin' Crunk. Finally, a successful recipe from that cookbook. I'll have to try some more of them now. 

I used short brown rice so it gave it a nice chewy texture. The rice is cooked in vegetable broth and spices to give it lots of flavor, then I tossed in some chopped tomatoes and corn. 

~ Chickpea Tacos & Dirty (South) Rice ~

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!

Cauliflower Lentil Tostadas & Spanish Rice

 I love watching Jason Wrobel on "How To Live To 100" on The Cooking Channel. One episode was all about cauliflower. He made these Cauliflower Lentil Tacos but I baked up some corn tortillas and made tostadas instead.

You take a head of cauliflower and pulse it in the food processor until it is the size of rice grains. It's combined with cooked lentils and lots of other spicy ingredients to make this yummy taco/tostada/burrito filling. 

I also made Spanish Rice following the recipe in Give Them Something Better. It uses brown rice instead of white. It was kind of dry so I might add extra tomato sauce and water next time. I still like my own version of Spanish Rice better. 

Instead of the Guacamole recipe Jason uses I made the Avocado Tomato Salsa from La Dolce Vegan. Lots of lime juice and cilantro! 

Both of these recipes make alot so I froze the leftovers for a quick dinner on nights I don't want to cook.

Roasted Asparagus & Quinoa Salad

Vegcookbookclub February:

This month we're cooking out of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's cookbooks. Since February is almost over I thought I better get some posting done! These two recipes are from The Vegan Table. 

~ Pan-Fried (or Roasted) Asparagus with Lime Juice ~

The recipe gives you the option to roast the asparagus instead of pan-fried. Much tastier roasted! Lots of crispy bits of garlic and shallots and a squeeze of lime juice instead of the usual lemon. I've got some more asparagus in the fridge; I think I'll have to make this one again tonight!

~ Toasted Quinoa with Raisins and Slivered Almonds ~

My first clue that this makes alot is the 2 cups raw quinoa. Duh! But I went ahead and followed the recipe and had lots and lots of quinoa salad. Thankfully, it was very tasty but I ended up throwing some of it away and I hate doing that. I like the addition of the raisins to give it a little sweetness. 

Gingered Collard Greens

Vegcookbookclub January:

I think February is going to go by in a blur. I'm still working on cooking recipes from January's list! 

I'm always looking for ways to cook greens and this one is from Everyday Happy Herbivore.

Lots of ginger, red onion and red pepper flakes. I added a dash of liquid smoke and let the greens simmer awhile.

Gingered Collard Greens with some chipotle habanero sauce on top! I served them with sliced potatoes, mixed veggies and Gardein Turk'y Cutlets. 

Broccoli Pesto Pasta & Garlicky Spinach

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

~from Everyday Happy Herbivore: Garlicky Spinach

Lots of garlic in the Garlicky Spinach. I used a half and half mixture of spinach and lacinato kale. You saute' the garlic (6 cloves!) in a small amount of vegetable broth and then add Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar and red pepper flakes for seasoning. Very tasty!  

 ~from The Happy Herbivore:  Broccoli Pesto Pasta

After steaming the broccoli it is blended with 3 garlic cloves, fresh basil, tofu and other seasonings. It is then tossed with cooked pasta. I added the optional kalamata olives, some capers and quartered cherry tomatoes for extra flavor. Basically, it is an uncooked pasta sauce so the raw garlic is quite potent. We had a "garlicky" dinner tonight. Along with the garlic in the spinach and pasta I also made garlic bread! Whew! Good thing we were both eating it!

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!