Spicy Soba Salad and a Favorite Taco Salad

Love soba noodles so I knew I wanted to try this recipe from One-Dish Vegan. 

 Edamame, cucumbers, and green onions.

 This has a spicy, sweet dressing made with tamari (Bragg's), rice vinegar, sweet Asian chili sauce, sriracha, and agave. I left out the sesame oil and sesame seeds because of my allergies. I replaced the sesame oil with a little flax oil (it's only used to toss the soba noodles in after cooking.) 

I wanted to serve this for supper so I cooked up some Gardein Chik'n Scallopini and sliced it over the top of the salad. Yum! This tastes even better the next day after it has chilled. 

~ Spicy Soba Salad with Edamame and Cucumber ~

I was craving this old stand-by taco salad we always used to eat which had hamburger and cheese in it so I just made a vegan version. 

I sauteed a bag of veggie crumbles with a little oil and some taco seasoning. That gets tossed with a head of chopped iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, sliced black olives, a can of kidney beans, and some Daiya cheddar shreds. 

Then, you crumble about a half a big bag of original Doritos corn tortilla chips and mix it in and top that with some good old Catalina dressing. Toss everything together and dig in. I even like it the next day after everything gets a little bit soggy. 

~ Catalina Taco Salad ~ 

Clean the Fridge Noodle Bowls

I had lots of fresh veggies I needed to use including a big bunch of bok choy and I found this Teriyaki Noodle Bowl recipe here. 

My favorite noodles-soba! I mainly used this recipe because it had a good teriyaki sauce directions with ingredients I had on hand. I did leave out the toasted sesame oil (allergic) and it was sweet and spicy. The recipe calls for a pound of frozen stir fry vegetables but I wanted to use all of my fresh veggies. I started cooking my carrots and broccoli first and then added yellow squash, green onions, bok choy, frozen green beans, and frozen edamame. 

I topped the cooked soba noodles with the stir fry and added some sliced mini peppers on the top. Of course I gave my bowl a good helping of Bragg's and Sambal Oelek HOT sauce! Delish! 

Hoisin-Glazed Bok Choy w/Tofu & Soba Noodles plus Two Favorites

Another delicious recipe from Wild About Greens.

I used a tub of water-packed extra firm tofu so it would cube and brown nicely. 

Bok choy (love!), carrots, green onions, ginger, and a sauce made with hoisin and orange juice topped with some toasted slivered almonds. Yum! 

My favorite of all time noodles-Soba buckwheat. 

~Hoisin-Glazed Bok Choy with Tofu & Soba Noodles~

Of course I like mine hotter so I added some Sambal Oelek and also a couple dashes of Bragg's. 

I made a couple of long-time favorite recipes this week. I had a bag of frozen cranberries hanging out in the freezer from the holidays (!) so I made this Cranberry Apple Crisp recipe from La Dolce Vegan. I doubled the recipe and used the whole bag of cranberries. 

I have made this before using rehydrated dried cranberries. They just don't give it the extra tartness that using fresh cranberries does. 

~Cranberry Apple Crisp~
So yummy warmed up for breakfast with a glass of soymilk.

Bar-B-Q Chicken Sandwich & Coleslaw
from Give Them Something Better
My hubby and I could eat this BBQ and coleslaw once a week!

Stir-Fried Collard Greens with Soba Noodles

I'm always looking for ways to cook collard greens and this recipe in Wild About Greens is perfect. She gives you the basic recipe to cook the greens with garlic, shallots and a little apple cider vinegar. Then she lists several different variations to add in to the cooked greens. 

 Thinly sliced collard greens cooking with garlic and shallots.

I love buckwheat soba noodles and they really complement the flavor of the collard greens. After cooking the noodles I tossed them with the greens and added a little Bragg's and hoisin sauce. 

Collard Greens with Buckwheat Soba Noodles

I garnished the greens and noodles with chopped green onions and served them with Gardein Crispy Tenders. I wanted a little more heat to mine so I added some Sambal Oelek.

Veggie Lo Mein

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

~from Everyday Happy Herbivore:

This Veggie Lo Mein was so easy to throw together for a quick meal! Instead of sauteeing the veggies in just water I did add a little sesame oil to the pan. Oops; not totally oil-free! 

I bought a bag of Asian Blend veggies-green & red cabbage, broccoli slaw, carrots, kale and snap peas. I also added some sliced red bell pepper to the mix. After cooking, I tossed the veggies with spelt soba noodles and the Lo Mein sauce. 

For extra flavor I topped the Lo Mein with some Gardein Teriyaki Chik'n Strips. Yum!

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!"

Asian Noodles with Black Vinaigrette

VegCookbookClub January 2013 recipes from Kris Carr-Crazy Sexy Kitchen:

Now that the month is half over I'm finally sitting down to post. I did have trouble downloading my pics  so I had to get that figured out. New Year's goals:  I've been loving going to the gym and getting in shape on the Pilates reformer. Trying to get my back in shape after August's back surgery and drop those pesky pounds from laying around doing nothing while recuperating. I've also been stopping by the juice bar near the gym and getting a wheatgrass shot and a green juice 3 or 4 times a week! That wheatgrass is addictive. Since I do have a juicer (Jack LaLanne but I really want a Breville). I guess I need to try and make my own green juice. So I went to Sprouts Market today and stocked up on some organic veggies and green apples. We'll see how that turns out in the morning! 

 Asian Noodles (pg. 174) with Black Vinaigrette (pg. 226)

I love buckwheat soba noodles. The only ones I can find at the store though have egg whites in them. So I stock up on them online from Eden Organics. I substituted green cabbage for the Napa cabbage and used alfalfa instead of the other sprouts it called for. The Black Vinaigrette/Basic Asian Marinade is awesome! I used plenty of fresh ginger and garlic. Yum! I used the leftovers as a wonderful salad dressing. 

I cooked up some Gardein Chick'n Scallopini, sliced it and served it over the top of the salad. Of course mine was garnished with some hot Sambal Oelek chili paste. Wow, my mouth is drooling just writing about this salad; it's been 3 weeks since I've made it. I think I need to try this one again. :)

Marc's Magnificent Noodles

The Garden of Vegan~pg. 155:

 I didn't really feel like cooking supper but I made this and it was so easy-only 6 ingredients and it was quick to make and soooo good. It had soba noodles (which I love), garlic, miso, flax oil, baby spinach and green onion. The recipe called for 3 garlic cloves which are used raw in the sauce. Whew! I think we'll be keeping  some vampires away a few days! Next time I might saute' the garlic or decrease the amount. But it was still delicious. My husband asked if it had butter in it; nooo, that is the flax oil and miso!

Seaweed Soup~pg. 104

Vegan Culinary Institute La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I would always pass by this recipe when browsing through my cookbook but it pays to try new things! This is absolutely delicious. I don't like the smell of the dried seaweed but after you simmer it in the broth it is wonderful. The lime juice really brings out the flavor of everything; I even added extra lime juice on my serving (well, I ate 3/4 of the pot!)

I had to take a picture of the dried seaweed strips; they looked so pretty.

After I took a photo I used scissors to snip the noodles into pieces to make it easier to eat. Now I know what to do with the remaining sheets of nori seaweed I have; make more soup! It's great with some cubed tofu added to it also. 

Day 15 Soba Noodle Miso Soup~pg 103

Vegan Culinary Institute La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Nori and miso are not usually on my shopping list; this was one of the recipes I was dreading to try. But it tastes pretty good. I snipped my noodles into pieces because I hate trying to eat soup with long, stringy noodles hanging! Now what do I do with a whole pkg. of seaweed?! My omnivore husband probably will not like this-it's too far off the meat and potatoes path for him. Also, I did do an experiment on myself-I  made miso soup a long time ago and it seemed to make my skin itch; so I want to see if I have an allergic reaction again (I might be reaching for the Benedryl!) Miso and tempeh seem to bother me-it must be the fermentation process. We shall see!

Here is a closeup after garnishing with gomashio.