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!

Tofu Scramble Tacos

I always love a good tofu scramble and this recipe from Thug Kitchen makes a huge skillet full. 

Lots of ingredients for the scramble-broccoli, red pepper, onion, carrot, spices. 

 Sauteing the onion, broccoli and red bell pepper. 

Everything 'scrambled' together. 

Toppings for my tacos-cilantro, chopped tomato, picante sauce and some chipotle tabasco sauce rolled up in a sprouted grain tortilla. 

~ Tofu Scramble Tacos ~

The mixture ended up being a little dry for my taste. It needs some more seasoning and moisture. 

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 ~ 

Baked Penne with Sausage & Peppers and Another Scramble

 This week I tried a couple more recipes from Peas and Thank You. 

I had picked up a package of Tofurky Italian Sausage and found this recipe for a pasta dish. A fairly simple, easy to put together meal that is yummy. 

Sauteing the sausage with red and yellow peppers and onion. 

~ Baked Penne with Sausage & Peppers ~ 

This made a huge lasagna pan of pasta; I gave some to my brother, my daughter and we still had a lot of leftovers! We ate this for a couple of meals. 

It seems like when Sunday rolls around I'm craving some tofu scramble! I think I've tried almost every scramble recipe out of my cookbooks. They all have a few variations. This particular one has some cumin which I don't normally add. I did add a handful of chopped arugula for some extra color and melted Daiya cheddar on top. 

~ Tofu Scramble ~

with hash browns and toast 

The rest of the week I filled in with some tried and true favorites:

~ Red Bean Coleslaw 

served with Gardein Crispy Tenders, baked potatoes and pickled beets. 

~ I made another batch of Zucchini Apple Bread  

for my grandsons (they love it!)

~ We ate the rest of the Tater Tot Casserole which I had frozen.

~ Massaged Kale Salad with Citrus, Black Pepper & Cheese Cauliflower and potatoes. 

Breakfast Burritos

Another favorite tofu scramble to add to the list! This one is from Give Them Something Better. I turned this one into a breakfast burrito. 

I had some frozen hash browns I wanted to add to my burrito. I seasoned them with some Onion Onion seasoning from Tastefully Simple and then cooked them until they were nice and crispy brown. Perfect amount of seasoning. I could have eaten the hash browns right out of the pan instead of waiting for my scramble to get done!

This recipe called for some chicken style seasoning. I've never added that to my scrambles. I used my Butler's Chik-Style Seasoning. I like the extra flavor it gave the tofu. I also added some chopped green onions and topped it all with some Daiya cheddar shreds which I let melt into the scramble. 

Gotta have cilantro and hot sauce for your breakfast burritos!

I warmed up a flour tortilla in the microwave and then topped it with the scramble, some hash browns, cilantro and chipotle habanero hot sauce.

Perfect breakfast burrito~Yum! 

This made enough for extra easy breakfasts. 

Noodles and Greens

Looking for recipes to use my new shipment of udon and soba noodles from Eden Foods and I found this one in Vegan Vittles by Jo Stepaniak. I've had this cookbook a long time and I still keep finding great recipes to make out of it. I'm challenging myself to not buy any new cookbooks! I've got so many that I have never even used yet. That's part of my New Year's resolution; I'm focusing on reading all of the books I have stashed in cupboards, bookcases and drawers and not buying any new ones. I've been using my local library again, too. So far, I've done really well. Yay! 

This is such an easy recipe, yet so tasty! The recipe calls for collard greens or you can substitute kale. I had some lacinato kale I used this time because I couldn't find any organic collard greens at the store. Instead of umeboshi vinegar I used plain rice vinegar. I've never tried the umeboshi but the rice vinegar worked just fine. Instead of the smoked tofu I used Cajun Baked Tofu. You shred it in the food processor and top the noodles and veggies with it. It was nice and 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

A New Cookbook & My Favorite Breakfast!

Well, my first attempt at Vegan MoFo was not quite a success. I did well up until the last week of September and then just fell apart. I think I just ran out of things to say and got tired of cooking. Also, I have a problem with authority; hehe , I don't like being told when to do something and how to do it. Eh, I gave it a shot. Anywhoo, I really, really needed another vegan cookbook (wink, wink). Blame it on VegNews. I like to read their book reviews and this one sounded too good to pass up. I like funky, fun cookbooks and this one fits right in. I'm not a wrestling fan nor am I into punk; I just like a different perspective on life! Bake and Destroy-Good Food for Bad Vegans by Natalie Slater:

I always like to try the tofu scramble recipes in any new cookbook. Plus, I was really hungry this morning! This recipe "The Non-Cop-Out Tofu Scramble" has lots of yummy ingredients and spices. Italian seasoning, garlic, nutritional yeast, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives and spinach. Extra, extra flavorful!

My favorite toast toppings~Earth Balance margarine and Mango Chutney.

Tofu Scramble with hash browns and mango chutney toast. 

I ate every bite! 

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!

Breakfast Tacos (Scramble) ~ pg. 35

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

I was hungry for a big old breakfast with some tofu scramble, hash browns and toast. BGV has a couple different recipes for tofu scramble but this was the easiest and I had all the ingredients. She uses the filling in tacos but it tastes just as delicious with hash browns. I sauteed the red bell pepper along with my spices and then added the tofu. Of course I had to top the scramble with cilantro and avocado. Great breakfast!

Palak Soyabina Panira ~ pg. 137

VegCookbookClub July recipes from eat, drink & be vegan by Dreena Burton:

I had alot of spinach I needed to use up and this recipe called for a pound of spinach! Make sure you use a large pot to cook this in. 

I love the spicy-sweet flavors of Indian food and the cumin, coriander, cinnamon, allspice and cloves sauteing were mouth-watering. This is a delicious and easy way to enjoy those Indian flavors. I served  the tofu and spinach with Nava Atlas' Middle Eastern Chopped Salad, naan bread and mango chutney.

Breakfast Casserole

I know this is called 'Breakfast Casserole' but I made it for supper last night. Plenty of leftovers for breakfast though! This is a recipe using The Vegg.

This has a biscuit base layered with vegan sausage crumbles, tofu scramble made with The Vegg and Daiya cheddar shreds. Takes me right back to those sausage and cheese laden (greasy) breakfast bakes I used to make! I made the mistake of baking it a little too long and my biscuit base got a little brown and dry but it still tastes delicious. I also used extra tofu and not enough Vegg so the egg flavor wasn't as strong as it could be. I topped mine with some ketchup and tabasco sauce! I'm going to try and make this again and halve the recipe so we don't have so much leftovers for the two of us. You can find the recipe here: Vegan Breakfast Biscuit Casserole

Breakfast Casserole for supper with sauteed greens and peppers

Baked Ziti~pg. 160

VegCookbookClub May recipes from Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson:

This is one of those recipes you can make when you just don't feel like cooking. I even used bottled marinara sauce instead of making my own. The only pasta I had was some gluten-free that I wanted to try. The GF pastas that I've tried in the past always turn to mush; so I thought I would try a different brand. No luck; still mushy. Oh well, I'll just put up with a little intestinal discomfort to enjoy some good old wheat pasta from now on. 

I substituted my own "Italian Seasoning" for all of the herbs the recipe calls for. There are lots of great herb blends in the cookbook Herb Mixtures & Spicy Blends. I used about 3 tsp. of the seasoning blend.

The last 10 minutes I uncovered the casserole and added shredded Daiya mozzarella and sprinkled some Vegan Parmesan Cheese on top. 

Baked Ziti with steamed broccoli and Faux Parmesan garlic bread. I use the Faux Parmesan recipe from How It All Vegan. It makes great garlic bread! You can see the pasta is just a pile of mush but it still tasted good!