Am I a bad Vegan cause I hate peas?

I promise I love other green veggies but I hate peas. Brussel sprouts are my favourite always have been. I think it stems from a time in my life where my mom went through a faze of putting peas in absolutely everything we ate. So, why do you ask did I find peas in the freezer...I am not sure what would possess me to purchase them. I love fresh local sweet peas but any other type will not do. Tonight we had Taquitos which I usually love but tonight I found something a little odd in one of mine and must admit I have been turned off of them. They really are a rare treat since they are a little expensive. I served them with mashed potato (boiled with skin on) smashed with those icky green peas. I thought if I could mix them in with something I could mask their taste. I made a miso gravy (1 cup water, 1 tbsp miso, 1/2 tsp veg stock powder and 1 tsp arrowroot) to go on top and added some chopped green onions. I have to admit that it tasted pretty tasty this way. I love mashed potatoes with their skins on and a little chunky. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the other half of the bag of frozen peas...

Maple Baked Beans

I was reading someone else's blog the other day who made a big batch of maple-apple baked beans. So, I started thinking...I have a million pounds of dried pintos in the cupboard just waiting to be soaked and it has been forever since I have had baked beans. So, I decided to experiment. I started by soaking 2 cups of pintos overnight, then cooked them in the pressure cooker. I sliced up one large onion really thin, threw those and the cooked beans into a crockpot. I added about 3/4 cup of maple syrup (which I can cut down to 1/4-1/2 cup next time), 3 tbsp of apple cider vinegar, 1 small can of tomato paste and about 4 tbsp of dried mustard powder. Cooked it on high for about 3 hours then on low for another 2 hours. This was the result. I must admit that I liked them very much. I ended up cutting up some Tofurky chipotle hot dogs I had in the freezer to make beans and weenies and made some garlic toast on the side. Yummy...

My first Daring Baker Challenge....Pizza

I was lucky enough to be accepted into the Daring Bakers Club and my first challenge was to make a pizza dough and use a tossing method. I have to admit I have made plenty of pizza doughs in the past but none have ever had the elasticity in them to be able to toss in the air. Well everything changed with this dough. It was so pliable and was amazing to work with. Here is what I made for this challenge..

The dough was nice and thick (like I love it) and I added roasted eggplant sauce, veggie "pepperoni", green olives, marinated artichoke hearts, red onion and arugula. I loved it and this will definitely be my new go-to pizza recipe. Next I want to attempt a dessert pizza. I envision a peanut butter sauce base with drizzled chocolate, caramel and nuts.....

Grilled Cheeze

I was at a store tonight that I normally do not shop at but I get 10% off most items with my Winnipeg Veg Association card. So, on a whim I decided to try out the Tofutti american slices. I guess I was hankering after a good grill cheeze. Not sure if I really like this product. It seems like it has a weird consistency to it and I did not really like the taste. It made a melty grilled cheeze but I do not think I will be buying this in the future. Good thing it does not expire until March of 2009 which will give me plenty of time to eat the remaining slices.

Blueberry Pancakes and Tofurky Breakfast Links

We had pancakes tonight to use up some of the leftover frozen blueberries in the freezer. Served them with tofurky breakfast sausages which I just love (although have to eat sparingly because they are quite high in fat if you eat 4!) and everything was doused in pure maple syrup. Just like I love it!

Pumpkin Pie Brownie (Post Punk Kitchen)

With a few leftover cans of pumpkin I have been wanting to try this recipe for a while now. It comes from the Post Punk Kitchen blog called Pumpkin Pie Brownie. Again my finished product looks nothing like her finished product. I think my pan was too small. Next time I will use a square one that is larger to distribute more of the brownie and pumpkin topping. Verdict...delicious. I will be making this for Christmas dinner to share with DH's family. It is the perfect combination of chocolate and pumpkin. Yum!

You win some...you lose some

I would have to say this one....I lost. I found some dried bean curd pieces lying in the cupboards waiting to be used up. Someone showed me this fantastic recipe and I thought...hmmm looks easy enough...NOT! I soaked the bean curd and it all fell apart. It was worse than working with filo dough. I salvaged what I could. For the filling I fried up some portabellos and green onions in a satay sauce. I served this with leftovers of mashed potato and brussel sprouts. In all fairness it did not taste terrible but it will definitely be in the never to make again pile. I do not think I will be buying dried bean curd again. I will leave it up to the restaurants to prepare. Here is a photo of what it was suppose to look like. The recipe was taken from here Chinese Vegetarian Chicken

Chickpeas a la King

Tonight's dinner cleaned out some dried chickpeas I have had in the cupboard for probably too long. I soaked them last night and cooked them in the pressure cooker today. I made a sauce from 1 chopped onion sauteed in a little earth balance, added some paprika and various seasonings, 1/4 cup of flour, browned all of that then added 1 1/2 cups of veggie stock and 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk. Let it all thicken, added the chickpeas and a jar of pimentos which has been sitting in the fridge for way too long as well. I served it over mashed potatoes from a friend's garden and some lovely brussel sprouts. It was an easy yet enjoyable meal.

For you kitty lovers my perfectly curled up Moon-bear

Rice Wraps and Smoothies

Trying to incorporate more fruits into my diet and cleaning out the freezer, I decided to go back to having smoothies in the afternoon (just around the time I usually get a craving for a snack). I put fresh pineapple, frozen blueberries and strawberries and unsweetened almond breeze in this one. It really hit the spot and carried me over until supper....
With my last package of veggie shrimps in the fridge and some leftover ham seitan I made these for supper. I also had a rogue purple cabbage that I bought a while back but was not sure what to do with it. I shredded some carrots and the purple cabbage, used arugula and adzuki bean noodles to complete the wraps. Served it with a dipping sauce similar to Veganomicon's but with peanut butter. I love these wraps. Super simple to make, taste nice and fresh and very filling.

Sandwiches

We had a quick supper tonight since we were going to have popcorn later on! I bought some Tofurky slices the other day. I do not normally by Tofurky items because they never go on sale but I got them at 15% off so I could not resist picking up a few different items. I bought the Italian Deli Tofurky Deli Slices. I made it grilled cheeze style, fried it in the frying pan with some Cheddar Sheese and added some homemade cranberry sauce. It was the perfect combination.

Veggie Meatballs and dark rice

In the ongoing effort of trying to clean out the fridge, freezer and cupboards I made Sweet and Sour Meatballs with veggie meatballs I found in the freezer, I served it with a 7 blend rice that was gifted to me by a neighbour who did not like it and I added some frozen corn found deep in the back of the freezer and some onions and celery hiding in the crisper. I love this sweet and sour sauce. So simple to make yet it tastes like it has many ingredients in it.

Seitan Ham again...

I have not made a Seitan roast in a while and I am not sure why. Sunday's dinner stirred things up for me so I decided to make one today in the toaster oven. It was awesome because it did not heat up the whole house and used way less electricity than the oven would have. I had yoga tonight so I left dh with these instructions:
For some reason he found them funny and said I should post them here. I guess we all have to start somewhere and having him help me in the kitchen makes me happy :)

Thanksgiving 2008!

What an amazing Thanksgiving 2008 dinner with my family. My mom cooked most of it so deserves all of the credit. For appetizers we started off with cream cheeze and asparagus wrapped in spelt filo dough. They were perfect for starters.
Then came the leak and potato soup. Very delicious.
Spinach salad with roasted pears and almonds and hazelnuts.
Homemade seitan ham (recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan), steamed potatoes, turnips, sweet potato and my favourite Brussel Sprouts! I made the stuffing, the homemade cranberry sauce and the foccacia bread (Veganomicon)
For dessert.... a rich, delicious chocolate cake made by the amazing people down at Mondragon! We all left stuffed and happy. We could be thankful that no animals had to suffer for our tasty meal.

Lasagna

Just another plain old veggie lasagna again tonight. Layers of tofu ricotta, lasagna, mushrooms and zucchini