November Parties!

I thought I would wrap up the end of the month with a rundown of get-togethers and parties that filled November! Now that my anxiety, OCD and bipolar symptoms are on the wane (for now) it's time to get back to some cooking. 

Nov. 9th ~ Guy Fawke's Bonfire at my sweet English friend's home. The actual day they celebrate is Nov. 5th but that was a Tuesday so it was moved to Saturday. Such fun! Lots of food and an awesome bonfire burning of the Guy Fawke's effigy. I always try to bring a casserole or other substantial dish so I know I have at least one thing to eat. I made Black Bean & Sweet Potato Tortilla Casserole from Vegan Holiday Kitchen and Cowgirl Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. 

This is an alternative to the Cowboy Cookies using cranberries and vegan white chocolate chips.

The Black Bean-Sweet Potato Casserole is always a hit. I even had one lady come up to me and tell me that her husband loved this dish! The pan was empty at the end of the night.

Nov. 15th ~ Rehearsal dinner at Macayo's Mexican restaurant for my son and his fiance'. They make a California Burro that I always order. I have them substitute the refried beans for black beans. And yes, I do include the cheese and sour cream. 

Nov. 16th ~ Wedding! A beautiful ceremony and reception at the Golf Club of Estrella for my baby boy (25 in February) and his beloved. Lots of great food; appetizers of hummus, pita bread, veggies, cheese, crackers, green salads, roasted veggies, scalloped potatoes, rolls and meat. And the wedding cake was delicious along with the champagne! Not too worried about watching what I ate that night. Celebrate!!!

Nov. 24th ~ Potluck Birthday/Bon Voyage Party at another dear friend's home. There is always a ton of food at these potlucks. Again, I made a casserole dish; Baked Chili with Cornbread Biscuit Topping from La Dolce Vegan. 

A wonderfully, sweet and spicy chili. This time I used Butler's Soy Curls instead of the frozen veggie crumbles (which bother my stomach.) Loved the addition of the soy curls; they gave it that meaty, hearty texture this dish needed. And it fooled all the meat-eaters! Again, another empty casserole dish. 

I love using these because they are just dried soybeans; nothing else. 

They are very kind to my stomach! 

Nov. 28th ~ Thanksgiving Day. My mom likes to cook a huge meal for everyone. I always bring the Tofurky with roasted carrots, potatoes and onions along with some Tofurky gravy. I also made Green Bean Casserole Redux from 1000 Vegan Recipes and Cranberry-Carrot Cake with Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting from Vegan Holiday Kitchen. It's a nice, easy trip to Mom and Dad's; they live right across the street! 

This year I basted the Tofurky and veggies with a mixture of my Poultry Seasoning, Bragg's and Roasted Garlic Infused Oil. My New York friend sells Tastefully Simple products and this Garlic Oil is delicious. It added a subtle sweet garlic taste to the veggies and Tofurky. I want to try it the next time I roast asparagus or green beans. Confession time~this is the last year I am making a Tofurky. Well, I'm the only one who eats it and also, it really gives me intestinal distress! Next year, I'm going to try making some stuffed squash but I like the roasted veggies so I'll keep making those.

Basting marinade. 

Fresh, organic green beans for the Green Bean Casserole. Instead of the usual cream of mushroom soup (which isn't vegan) you make a yummy sauce using chopped fresh mushrooms, seasonings and unsweetened soymilk. Of course you have to use a can of fried onion rings!

This tastes just like I remember a good old fashioned green bean casserole should!

The Cranberry-Carrot Cake hot from the oven. She suggested using a springform pan to make a prettier presentation. I mixed up the Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting according to the directions but it just tasted and had the consistency of the soymilk. Maybe a typo? I added about 3/4 cup powdered sugar and it turned out alot better. After drizzling on the cake I added toasted, chopped walnuts. 

Loved the flavors; the fresh cranberries were a nice, tangy contrast to the sweet frosting. Hubby especially liked it! 

Nov. 30th ~  Last but not least! As I was typing up my post, my son texted me and said "drinkin beer and eatin turkey tonight at my house". Heeheehee. I texted back and said "is that an invitation?" So I better bring something to eat for myself because who knows what else there will be to eat?! I'm going to whip up Wolffie's Fiesta Macaroni Bean Salad from La Dolce Vegan for tonight. 

Wow! What a month! I'm sure December will be just as wild and crazy. I'm getting all of my fall decorations gathered up today while I've got the hubby out in the garage bringing in all of the winter holiday decorations. I think tomorrow will be busy! 

Happy New Year!!!

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

What a fantastic finish to an awesome month of cooking! I think I'm going to make these three recipes a tradition every new year.

Green Chili Corn Bread (pg 11):

 

The plain coconut yogurt makes this cornbread extra moist. A piece slathered with Earth Balance margarine and agave nectar is almost better than dessert!

 

Simple Garlicky Greens (pg 275):

 

Can you see the chunks of garlic? Yum! After simmering for almost 30 minutes the garlic was nice and mild. I just learned today that a 1/2 cup of cooked collard greens has 113 mg of calcium. Wow! (Read that in 'Crazy Sexy Diet' by Kris Carr.)

 

 Hoppin' John/Black-Eyed Peas and Rice (pg 274):

 

For the vegan sausages in the Hoppin' John I used Yves Meatless Breakfast Patties and just chopped them up before sauteeing. I used 2 tsp. dried parsley instead of the 1/2 cup fresh. I used 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes and then added tabasco sauce to mine when it was time to eat! Nice and spicy!

 

Happy 2013!!

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Tortilla Casserole

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

I have a confession. I am a CHEESE addict. So when I find a vegan recipe that satisfies that craving, gives my brain chemicals the 'happy dance' and doesn't leave me with a hangover, headache and intestinal distress the next morning-WHOO HOO! Believe me, I have caved in  several times and ordered pizza and I am not a happy person to be around for a couple of days! I know there are some vegan purists who poo poo at "fake" cheese but not this CHEESE addicted girl. I cannot even keep CHEESE in the fridge for my hubby; it calls my name... He's better off without it anyway. So all of that to say-this is one heck of a delicious casserole that I will even serve to those who eat CHEESE!

Before the delicious cheesy sauce.

I always tear my corn tortillas into pieces; much easier than layering them.

 

Mmmm-after baking with the delicious cheesy sauce. Could not live without Daiya; I keep packages of it in my freezer. I never want to run out; never! For this recipe I used half cheddar and half mozzarella flavors. I have made many, many enchilada casseroles in my pre-vegan/vegetarian days and this beats them all. I know what we're having for leftovers tomorrow!

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Tortilla Casserole and Sauteed Asparagus & Broccolini

 

I ate two helpings of this but that is much better than stuffing myself with CHEESE pizza!! I have three more recipes I plan on making out of this awesome cookbook. I've never made black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Year's Day and I'm starting the tradition at our house this year-Hoppin' John, Garlicky Greens and Green Chili Cornbread. Thanks Nava, for putting out such excellent cookbooks. I still have her cookbook "Vegetariana" from many moons ago!

 

Sauteed Asparagus and Broccolini

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

 

My local Sprouts market had some organic broccolini and bell peppers. This was the perfect recipe to use them along with the asparagus. It also calls for olives or sun-dried tomatoes; I love Kalamata olives so I chose to toss those in along with the lemon juice. I did add some dried garlic while the veggies were sauteeing. I feel you can never have enough garlic!

Roasted Squashes and Peppers

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

Mmm-roasted peppers and squash!

 

Love the smell of roasting veggies. Now that the holiday season is almost over it's time to focus on some good, clean eating. Too many sweets-ugh! Next month the Veg Cookbook Club is cooking out of Kris Carr's new cookbook "Crazy Sexy Kitchen." Of course that is one of the few vegan cookbooks I don't have yet and being the cookbook junkie that I am, I immediately ordered it. She is such a powerful example of what clean, healthy eating can do for you. I'm trying, I'm trying! I can't quite get into the green juicing (yet!) I need to add a juicer and maybe a Vitamix to my wish list. :)

 

I served my roasted veggies with Swiss Chard with White Beans & Barley.

Here's to a new year of eating healthy and getting back in the gym!

Red Quinoa Pilaf with Kale and Corn

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

 

Quinoa and kale-two of my favorite power foods! I've never tried red quinoa before and also cooking it in the vegetable broth gave it lots of good flavor. This pilaf tastes delicious warm or cold.

 

 

I served the pilaf with a cucumber, red onion and tomato salad tossed in Amy's Tuscany Italian dressing.

 

Chocolate-Orange Cake

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

 

I bought this awesome Yule log pan by Nordicware and wanted to make a cool Yule log cake for the Winter Solstice Friday. It looks beautiful but I think you could actually sacrifice this Yule log cake on the fire as a real log! Hee, hee-I need to figure out how to bake in the pan next time. The cake flavors are wonderful but I had to bake it for over an hour to get the middle of the cake done. By then the outside was brick hard. Someone told me to wrap wet terrycloth around the pan to keep the edges from getting so done. I'll have to do a little research and try it again. I do want to make the cake recipe again using a regular Bundt pan. I love orange and chocolate together.

Agave and Mustard-Glazed Green Beans

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

 

The recipe for this dish says you can use fresh brussels sprouts or green beans. I had some organic frozen green beans that I needed to use and they tasted delicious with the agave/mustard glaze and toasted pine nuts. Can't wait to try this with brussels sprouts.

 

I served my green beans with Gardein Chick'n Tenders and Roasted Holiday Vegetables from La Dolce Vegan. The roasted veggies have carrot, potato, onion and sweet baby yams. Yum!

Spinach/Arugula Scrambled Tofu

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

Love me some scrambled tofu! This recipe calls for baby spinach or arugula; so I used arugula this time. I didn't have any red bell peppers but it tasted just fine without them. I remember the first time I ever heard about or tasted tofu. We were visiting a friend and he made a salad for us with some weird looking white square things in it. I thought it was some kind of cheese but he told us it was tofu-soybean curd. Thus began my 30 year-long love affair with all things veg!

"Three Sisters" Stew

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

Squash, corn, and beans~the 'three sisters' in Native American mythology. Love it! I had half a butternut squash left over from the Coconut Butternut Squash Soup I made the other day so this stew was perfect. All of the other ingredients are staples in my kitchen; even the cilantro :)

 

I served my stew over brown rice. You'll notice some extra green surrounding the stew. I had baby bok choy in the fridge that needed to be cooked so I sauteed it with some olive oil and garlic. Yum, it added texture, color and crunch to this dish.

 

 

Coconut Butternut Squash Soup

VegCookbookClub December recipes from Nava Atlas-Vegan Holiday Kitchen:

 

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted anything. I've just been cooking old stand-bys and frozen vegan convenience foods. This is what I have been busy doing: Having fun making lots of good-smelling things ~ seasoning mixes; herb teas; bath salts; aromatherapy sprays; dream pillows; herb sachets and incense. Other than cooking and baking, this is my passion!

 

 

 

So now I finally got around to making a recipe from this month's cookbook. I'm glad butternut squash has a long shelf life because I have had it sitting on my counter for awhile!

 

I didn't pre-cook the squash; I just peeled and cubed it and added about 10 minutes to the cooking time.  I also used full fat coconut milk-oops! I wasn't going to cook the garnish but I'm glad I did. I used a new ingredient that I have never bought before -arugula! I loved it raw on my bean burritos and I thought I would try it cooked with the sauteed red onions for my garnish instead of the kale. It was delicious! It added some texture to the smooth and creamy soup. I quickly added it to my grocery list for my next shopping trip. Can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.