Veggie Burgers, fries and onion rings

Okay I really really cheated tonight. I was craving a veggie burger but did not want one that was beany so I bought Yves premade veggie burgers. I loaded the burger with all topping imaginable and served it with fries and onion rings. I guess tonight was our junk food night :)

Mac and Chreese with Spinach

This was dinner tonight since we were both in a hurry. I love this mac and chreese that I found in Portland last year. It has the convenience of mac and cheese but it is organic and vegan. I was so happy when I was able to find somewhere in town that sells it! I sauteed some spinach in tamari and sprinkled with sesame seeds and called it supper.

Here is what the box looks like. There are different kinds but I love the whole wheat one cheddar style.

Cocoa Thumbprint Cookies

I made these and I will have to double check but I think the recipe comes from Vegan with a Vengeance. I was craving something sweet and these hit the spot big time. Although the recipe called for 2/3 cup of sugar and next time I make them I am cutting that back to 1/3 cup because they were way too sweet. The raspberry jam was the perfect touch. I will definitely revisit these cookies again.

Lemon Caper Sauce again with Baby Bok Choy

Just cannot get enough of the lemon caper sauce I made the other day. I have some leftovers and am going to see if they freeze. Tonight we had tofu dipped in breadcrumbs and baked in the oven with lemon caper sauce, long grain brown rice and baby bok choy steamed with light soy sauce.

Cinnamon Buns

I have this old book that I found a while ago called Burger 'N Fried N' Cinnamon Buns. I have not tried many recipes out of it but I love the cinnamon bun recipe. It is pretty low in fat and made with orange juice so it still gives it a nice sweet taste. Not sure what went wrong this time but I cooked them for 15 mins in the oven and they were still raw in the middle. So, the went back in for another 15 minutes. They were sinfully good!

Calzones

I found some leftover pizza dough in the fridge and just found some of those plastic crimper things at Value Village so I was excited to make calzones. For the stuffing I put in onions, Tofurkey Sundried tomatoe "sausage", spinach, Gouda Sheese and some leftover spaghetti sauce. These turned out pretty good and I was happy with them. I am hoping to make a whole batch of them and freeze them. Vegan pizza pops at our disposal.

Lemon Caper Sauce over Baked Tofu

This recipe is defenitely a keeper. Even DH put it in his top 5-10 meals. I loved the taste of this lemon and caper sauce. It was so simple to make. I found the basis for the recipe at Eat, me Delicious. The only changes I made was I did not have any panko crumbs so I dipped them in a cornmeal mixture I had leftover from Southern Fried Tofu strips. I also baked these in the oven instead of pan frying them. As for the sauce I added a roux of earth balance, flour and veggie stock to the end of the sauce so that it would make it more of a gravy. It was divine. I served it up with some lemony potatoes from Veganomicon and some lightly steamed broccoli. A great sauce give it a try! One note is you have to do make it with fresh lemons, nothing else will do. Fresh lemons I say!

Tempeh Cabbage Rolls

I was craving cabbage rolls the other day and have never really made them so I searched for a recipe in the books I had and found one that looked appealing in Vegan Planet. They are Tomato-Simmered Cabbage Packets Stuffed with Barley and Tempeh to be exact. Lessons I learned with this recipe:
1)Choose a smaller cabbage head for the leaves because a large one has leaves that are too tough and large to use
2)Use a nice flavourful sauce for these to be cooked it.

All in all I was quite disappointed with this outcome. The sauce was way too watery, the cabbage rolls were too big and the leaves were still tough (even though I steamed the cabbage before wrapping the rolls). The filling was nice though, the combination of tempeh and barley was perfect.

Valentine's Day Heart Cupcakes

Well here is my contribution to Valentine's Day for my husband. I whipped him up a batch of cupcakes in a heart-shaped cast iron pan we got for Christmas last year. They turned out so cute and tasty! I used the basic chocolate recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and drizzled them with leftover Christmas frosting (it is good for 3 months in the fridge!)

Valentine's Day Dinner at Mondragon

We celebrated part of our Valentine's Day last night by visiting our favourite vegan restaurant...Mondragon. They did the catering for our wedding and the food is always great. So it was a 5 course meal and I just thought I would share this pictures and descriptions with you guys. I was blown away and impressed (plus it was nice to not have to cook for one evening). It was pretty pricey but it was all organic and mostly fair trade and we rarely get the opportunity to do this so I cannot complain. On with the meal...

~Course One~ Amuse Bouche
A mango coconut crystal mouse with minted salt and red chilli accent

~Course Two~ Soup
Coconut Pumpkin Soup marked by coriander oil, with galangal and lemon grass

~Course Three~ Appetizer and Salad
Green papaya and starfruit salad sparkled with key lime and chili. Local organic edamame with himalayan sea salt and raw black sesame saffron lotus root pickle.

~Course Four~Main
Thai red curry accompaied by black and red jasmine rice and baby flowering chinese greens with choise of sesame crusted oyster mushroom and mastutake pan fried ginger or tofu and pineapple skewers served with torn basil, mint, and toasted cashews

~Course Five~Dessert
Fair trade chocolate truffle lolliop, compassionate hot chocolate and apple chantilly.
It was all so freakin amazing!
Plus there is more to follow tonight...with a surprise from DH so I cannot wait.

Pizza Rolls and Amy's No Chicken Noodle Soup

So hubby is still feeling ill tonight so we had a simple dinner of homemade Pizza Rolls and Amy's No Chicken Noodle Soup. I really love the taste of this soup and usually enjoy crumbling up tons of crackers to put into it. Reminds me of childhood. I used this recipe for the Pizza Rolls from a blog called Bittersweet. I was so excited to see that we finally have Sheese here in Manitoba. If you are vegan I highly recommend it. It is so creamy and although it does not melt very well works great in a lot of recipes.

I made the dough then shaped it into this. The dough is super moist and sticky so you cannot use a rolling pin but it was easy enough to stretch out. I highly recommend over flouring your workspace since mine stuck a little because the dough was so sticky. Topped it with marinara sauce, homemade vegeroni, dried red and green pepper flakes and Cheddar Sheese.

Roll the puppy up and cut into 1 inch piences. I think I got about 14 pieces all together.

Finished product right out of the oven. They might not look too pretty and look small but they taste amazing and are super filling. Next time I want to try to incorporate more veggies into them.

Potluck Pasta Salad and Raspberry Chocolate Torte

So we were suppose to go to a potluck tonight but dh got sick so we ended up staying home. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it!!!) I had already started this cake a few days earlier and it had no where to go. This is a raspberry chocolate torte which has 4 layers of chocoalte cake with ganache and raspberry jam in between all of the layers. This was my first time making it since I learned how back in Portland last year. I still need to perfect it since I think I placed the cakes together incorrectly. Never the less it tasted amazing!

Inside pictures of the cake where you can kind of see the layers.

Pasta salad that was just thrown together with ww rotini, black olives, artichokes, celery, cucumber and baby corn. Still lots left so we will be eating it for a while

Blueberry Corn Pancakes

We had to have a light supper tonight since I was going to the gym and dh had an appointment. I was craving something sweet but still somewhat healthy. I settled on Veganomicon's Blueberry Corn Pancakes. They have whole wheat flour, cornmeal and blueberries in them. I absolutely loved these and want to serve them for brunch to family and friends one day. They have a nice taste to them and were great slathered in maple syrup!

Roasted Portabello, Grain Mix and Edamame

Tonight's supper was a roasted portabello mushroom in a sauce that was tamari, olive oil, ground up almonds and spices. I served it along some mix grains that I picked up from Trader Joe's last year. It is great it has orzo, couscous, quinoa, split baby garbanzo beans and split peas. I served it all with some steamed edamame.

SuperBowl Buffalo Tofu

I wanted to get in the spirit of Superbowl so I wanted to make something that people would think about eating during this event. I settled on Buffalo Tofu. I found this whole new section in the supermarket that I had never explored before...hot sauces. I picked up some of Frank's Red Hot Sauce. I used this recipe for the Buffalo Tofu. I also whiped up some ranch dressing to go along with it. Just some homemade "sour cream" made out of silken tofu, canola oil, apple cider vinegar and sugar mixed with a package of vegan ranch dressing. I cut up some carrots and celery and baked some fries to go with it. I thought they turned out great. Although I cooked the tofu a little too long in the oven but I thought they tasted fine a little crispy. Not too spicy...just extremely flavourful!

Baja Style Grilled Tempeh Tacos

Another recipe from Veganomicon. I love tempeh but find it so hard to find in the city. I would like to start using more of it because I think I remember reading somewhere that it is healthier for you then tofu is. The basis for this marinade is beer and I thought it turned out great. Topped it with some homemade fresh coleslaw(red cabbage and carrots) and wrapped in corn tortillas.