Scrumptious Banana-Nut Bread & Ninja Turtle Power Smoothie

One of the few recipes from La Dolce Vegan I hadn't tried yet. I have a plastic bag full of frozen overripe bananas so it was convenient to thaw one out for this yummy bread. The recipe also calls for 1/2 cup silken tofu. I opened up the aseptic package took out 1/2 cup and then used the rest in my smoothie for the morning. We were babysitting the grandsons all day and knew they loved banana bread. All of the liquid ingredients are blended up in the food processor and then added to the dry. This bread was gone in two days! Time to make some more. 

~ Scrumptious Banana-Nut Bread ~

My smoothie~Vega One powder, maca powder, coconut water, kale, frozen fruit, silken tofu, mint leaves, and powdered wheatgrass. The grandsons love smoothies and I tried to convince them this was a ninja turtle power smoothie but they wanted nothing to do with it! hehheh 

Brownies & Pasta

Trying a few more new recipes the past few days. I did make a favorite Brussels sprouts recipe from Chloe's Kitchen, "Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Hazelnuts (pine nuts)". I love the crispy bits of Brussels sprouts! 

~ Espresso Brownies ~

The Espresso Brownies from La Dolce Vegan were scrumptious! The recipe calls for a shot of espresso and since I don't have an espresso machine I just mixed up some instant with 1 1/2 oz. hot water and 2 tsp. of the espresso powder. It gave these brownies a deep, rich chocolate mocha flavor. I frosted them with the Chocolate Cake Glaze recipe from LDV. They were even better with some So Delicious Coconut Milk Vanilla Bean ice cream! 

~ Pasta with Greens, Chickpeas & Olives ~

This pasta dish is from Wild About Greens, by Nava Atlas. So many ways to use all kinds of greens in this cookbook. I used Swiss chard along with garlic, red bell pepper, tomatoes, chickpeas and kalamata olives to make a hearty dish. A sprinkle of some red pepper flakes gives it a nice spicy taste. It is garnished with some toasted pine nuts and chopped fresh basil. 

White Chocolate Almond Bark & Pimiento Cheese Sandwiches

I've been revisiting some of my favorite recipes from  La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer; one of the cookbooks I use the most. I made my hubby's favorite Veggie Pot Pie and Cranberry Apple Crisp. I have used dried and fresh cranberries when making this crisp, and both are delicious. One of the few recipes I hadn't tried yet is White Chocolate Almond Bark. It's so easy to make with just three ingredients-vegan white chocolate chips, toasted almonds and raisins. A yummy sweet treat. 

White Chocolate Almond Bark

La Dolce Vegan

I have only tried one other recipe so far from Cookin' Crunk. The Vegan Ranch Dressing wasn't a success.  I had the Pimiento Cheese Sandwich recipe tagged for awhile so I thought I would give it a go. I have always loved pimiento cheese with tortilla chips. Yeah, I could eat the whole tub of it in one sitting! So I thought, great! now I can have a vegan version. 

Ingredients for the pimiento cheese. 

The consistency is rather like hummus. 

I ate my Pimiento Cheese on a sandwich like she suggested. It kind of squished out the sides. My verdict is that this tastes nothing like pimiento cheese! It is just a roasted red pepper hummus. Why did she have to tease me so?! Now I want to go out and get a tub of real pimiento cheese and some tortilla chips. hehe! I've been eating it like hummus using some naan bread, cucumbers and sweet peppers. *sigh*

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. 

A Favorite Lunch

I love this recipe from La Dolce Vegan for Seaweed Soup. I never would have tried it but I was doing a year-long challenge to cook through the cookbook. This is one of those that I have to eat on my own; my hubby would never eat seaweed AND tofu! The package of roasted seaweed has about ten sheets in it and the recipe only uses one so it was time to make this soup again as the package has been in my pantry awhile. (Still working on clearing it out.)

Ingredients for Seaweed Gomasio from La Dolce Vegan. 

I buy roasted sesame seeds so I can skip the step of browning the seeds. This is a great garnish for the Seaweed Soup.

I use an old sesame seed jar to hold my Seaweed Gomasio.

One of my favorite noodles. I really like buckwheat soba noodles but I was out of them. I order them from Eden Organic. The only soba noodles I can find in the stores have eggs in them.

Seaweed Soup 

I add cubed tofu to mine. It is garnished with a splash of lime juice, green onions and gomasio. This recipe makes 2 servings but I seem to eat it all!

Sarah's Chili-con-Bulgur~pg. 163

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I forgot how good this chili is! It makes a large quantity so we've got leftovers for another meal.

 

The bulgur adds alot of meaty bulk to the chili. One note-next time I make this I won't add the 1/4 tsp. salt. It's salty enough with the vegetable stock and the 1/4 cup of tamari. I served the chili with the best cornbread in the world~Wolffie's 'Buttermilk' Cornbread from La Dolce Vegan.

Chocolate-Walnut Loaf~pg. 240

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I started off this morning making a late breakfast of Freedom French Toast from LDV topped with applesauce and maple syrup~mmm mmm.

 

Then it was off on a bike ride. It feels great easing back into being active again after my back surgery. I then decided to make this decadent chocolatey loaf. It is moist and yummy and is on my "make again" list.

 

 

After baking this delicious loaf it was time for a swim at my brother and sister-in-law's house. They live just around the corner from me. We had a great time with our 'water therapy'; it's a nice, safe environment to float around and talk about life!

 

By the time I got home and visited with my mom who lives across the street I realized it was too late for lunch (good excuse) so I had a slice of chocolate-walnut loaf. So it's on to making dinner now!

Cousin Natasha's Everything But the Kitchen Sink Vegetable Curry~pg. 143

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Still trying to finish up a few dishes from my La Dolce Vegan Challenge which I started a little over a year ago. I've made this recipe before and my hubby thought it was a little too spicy; so I adjusted the curry powder and cayenne just for him. Of course, then I had to add a little sriracha sauce to mine! Now I've found a new cookbook challenge: VegCookBookClub They choose a vegan cookbook to cook out of for a month. Since I have about 50 vegan cookbooks I thought this should work. :) This month the club chose The Vegan Slow Cooker by Kathy Hester. I admit I went out and bought a 2 qt. and 4 qt. slow cooker since I only had a large 6 qt. Most of her recipes are cooked in a 4 qt. There are no set recipes to cook, you just choose some and then post a pic and comment. It's nice to read the reviews of some of the recipes everyone tries. So that's next on my list. Just got to get to the grocery store so I can make my first slow cooker recipe!

Curry simmering on the stove~smells delicious! This recipe is great because just like the title says you can throw everything but the kitchen sink in it. I subbed out the red pepper for a green and the zucchini for a large yellow summer squash. Can't wait to try some more variations.

 

 

Served my curry over some couscous!

Roasted Holiday Vegetables~pg. 194

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Don't wait for a holiday to try these roasted veggies~they're too good to wait! The molasses and cinnamon makes these smell great while cooking.

Served my roasted veggies with my favorite  Kale Salad (I added some yellow sweet mini peppers in the salad this time) and Morning Star Farms Hickory BBQ Riblets. I like to keep some convenience foods in the freezer to help me round out a meal or just when I don't feel like cooking!

Siue's Chocolate Chocolate Brownie "Cheesecake"~pg. 243

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I was craving something sweet and chocolatey so I thought I'd make one of the desserts I hadn't tried yet from the LDV challenge. I had all the ingredients so it was easy to whip up and bake.

Unfortunately this is not a dessert I could serve to guests. I baked it for the required time and chilled it in the fridge but it still had a thick, puddingy, chewy texture. I had to scoop it out with a spoon to eat it. Even though the consistency wasn't good, I still ate it! It was sweet and chocolatey but not the 'cheesecake' I was looking for. Wolffie's Pumpkin Tofu 'Cheesecake' on page 244 is much better. Of course this morning I have a sugar hangover and headache~ugh!

Red Lentil Pasta~pg. 137

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Great dinner tonight~loved this recipe and so easy! I substituted the cashews for toasted pine nuts. Yum. I served the sauce over spelt udon noodles. I love soba and udon noodles and I haven't been able to find any vegan noodles in any of the four grocery stores I checked. So I finally got online at https://www.edenfoods.com/ and ordered a sampler pack of different types of udon and soba noodles and one big package of 100% buckwheat soba noodles. I love using those in Sarah's recipe for Seaweed Soup (LDV pg. 104). That's for lunch today using the leftover noodles!

Red Bean Coleslaw~pg. 84:Creamy Coleslaw Dressing~pg. 93

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Another hit by Wolffie! A delicious alternative to the plain old coleslaw.

Served my coleslaw with chick'n nuggets, waffle fries and sauteed spinach with sweet mini peppers.

Creamy Tropical Fruit Salad~pg. 86

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Now this was much better than the so-so potatoes! But it's a recipe from the infamous "Wolffie". Poor woman (I guess it's a woman) she should have made her own cookbook and reaped some of the profit. Great salad to take to a potluck. I did make the following substitutions~only used red grapes; left out the bananas (allergic to raw bananas); added 3 kiwis instead of 1; added 1/2 C. shredded coconut; and left out the vegan marshmallows (wasn't going to tackle making them or driving for 1 1/2 hours to buy them!) Hubby gives this one two thumbs up. :) And I'm so proud of myself; I used organic apples, grapes and strawberries. Hey, every little bit helps.

Spiced Potatoes~pg. 191

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Eh-these were okay as far as potatoes go. I always seem to boil my potatoes too long and then I almost have mashed potatoes. I don't think I would make them again-just sayin'.

Kissing Cousins Oat Bread~pg. 266

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

The recipe called for 2 cups rolled oat flakes to be ground up in the food processor. I happened to have some oat flour amongst my miscellaneous flours in the fridge so decided to use that. I did a little research to make sure I had the ratio right and it is 1 1/4 C. oats to 1 C. flour. So I only used 1 1/2 C. flour. Did I do the math right?! Well anyway it turned out; I did have to bake it for 40 minutes instead of the 25-30 minutes the recipe called for.

 

Really yummy toasted and slathered with Earth Balance margarine and strawberry jam; mmm!

Quick Vegetable Rice~pg. 190

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Just like it says-a quick veg rice; make sure you use basmati rice. I love the flavor and texture of it. Not much to say about this recipe. It doesn't have much flavor which is good when you want to serve it with something else.

Wendy's Lentil & Brown Rice Casserole~pg. 140

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

 

 

I've made this casserole several times. So easy-just dump everything in the dish and pop it in the oven. It does have to cook for 1 1/2 hours and needs stirring every 30 minutes but I can handle that! Intstead of the can of crushed tomatoes the recipe called for, I used a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes. It gave it an extra smoky flavor. It goes really well with the Sweet 'N' Sour Red Cabbage, steamed summer squash and garlic/nooch bread.

Sweet 'N' Sour Red Cabbage~pg. 187

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Love the bright colors of my red cabbage cooking! An easy, delicious, nutritious side dish. Reminds me of pickled beets, which I love.

Peach Crumbcake~pg. 255

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

Hot from the oven!

A yummy little crumbcake! I used unbleached white whole wheat flour (does that make it a little bit healthier?!) I had just the right amount of frozen peaches that I chopped up and used instead of fresh. A quick, easy dessert if you ever have company coming over; or just make it for yourself!

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!