Vegan Christmas 2008: Recipe Testing Part 2

Tonight I continued with Part 2 of Christmas Recipe testing. This recipe is a Seitan Roulade and Chestnut Stuffing from Vegan Yum-Yum's blog. First of all I have to say I love this blog and it has so many amazing recipes. When I saw this one I thought it would be a perfect main course for Christmas. The recipe was super easy to follow. Although for the gluten I only ended up adding about 2 cups of broth since it would not absorb the rest of it. It tasted great and this is now going to be my go to stuffing recipe.

I have never cooked with chestnuts before, I cannot even remember if I have ever had one before. I saw fresh ones in the store over the weekend so I bought a few to try out here. I roasted them and then peeled them and chopped them up.

The only thing I think I did wrong with this recipe is when I pan fried my gluten pieces I fried them too long which in turn made them too crispy and chewy when they got out of the oven. I will have to remember only to brown them lightly on a cooler flame.

The end verdict is the stuffing is defenitely in and if I can practice with the roulades again before Christmas they may be in as well.

Next week I will move in to the baking sections...

November's Daring Bakers Challenge: Caramel Cake

I had lots of fun with this challenge this month. I have to admit that the cake tasted like a little piece of heaven. The caramel on the other hand was a little of a pain in the ass but once you get the hang of it everything turns out fine. This is going to be a cake a make again for Christmas because I know it will blow the socks off of my guests. I also decided that I need to work on my spun sugar skills. Although for making it for the first time ever I think it turned out semi-okay.

This website link for the recipe can be found here. The author of this amazing recipe is Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater. Thank you to the co-hosts Dolores from Culinary Curiosity , Alex from Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo, Jenny of Foray into Food, Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go for putting together this amazing challenge.

Vegan Christmas 2008: Recipe Testing Part 1

This year with so many amazing recipes floating around I decided to do some Christmas testing recipes since we are having a small Christmas dinner at our house with family and a few friends. The first recipe I wanted to try out was the Mushroom, Lentil and Wild Rice Timbales from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. They were extremely easy to make and did not take up much time in the kitchen but overall I was not impressed with the texture. Both DH and I voted them out. They were good and the recipe is excellent but not what we were looking for.

I made a side of stuffing by just sauteeing fresh sage leaves, onions and celery in earth balance, then removed the sage leaves. Added the usual spices, a few cups of stale bread and about 1 cup of veggie stock. Mixed it all together then baked in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. Served with sides of steamed corn and mashed potatoes.

Next I made the Mushroom Gravy from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. This one is a keeper. I loved the flavours and the gravy was so rich tasting without a lot of added fat.

Here is the cranberry sauce I make every year. Super basic recipe, 1 bag of cranberries, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of maple syrup. Boil until they pop and then simmer on lower heat for about 1/2 hour until it thickens nicely. Super easy to make and well worth the effort.

So, the cranberry sauce and gravy are in. The main dish still has yet to be discovered and I want to work on the stuffing a little more. Stay tune...I will be testing Round 2 on Sunday.

Veggie Gyozas

It has been kind of a crazy week so not too many meals were made. We sat down to eat this meal tonight. Vegetable gyozas with black rice and steamed broccoli. Kind of a basic meal but we have not had these dumplings for a long time and they tasted pretty good.

Wishing all of our American friends a Happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully turkeys were spared and people remembered to be thankful for what they have.

Simple Spaghetti

I defrosted some of the amazing tomato sauce I made in the summer with all of the tomatoes I received and served it with some whole wheat linguine. Quick dinner...

"Meatballs" in Sweet and Sour Sauce, Rice and Broccoli

I found some rice in the cupboard today and to be honest I cannot even remember what type it was but lucky enough there was one cup left so it was a perfect base to my sweet and sour meatballs (if you do a search on my blog I have posted the recipe somewhere else). Served them with lightly steamed broccoli.

Pitas

We had pitas tonight filled with grated gouda Sheese, butter lettuce, fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, red onions, black olives and Buffalo Soy curls. Easy to make and really hit the spot.

Grand Forks and Fargo

No blogging this weekend since we went away on a mini-trip to Grand Forks and Fargo, North Dakota. I use to love visiting the Super Target in Grand Forks because they always had tons of vegan food we could not find in Canada. All I could find this trip was a few boxes of Boca Chick'n Patties which was quite disappointing. We searched high and low in Grand Forks and Fargo for Tings and came out empty handed. I just wanted to try them once but this was obviously not meant to me. We had a great time on the water slide at the Holiday Inn and here are some pictures from our Ferris Wheel ride which is located in the Scheels sports store in Fargo. I did not get any food shots since we mostly ate at Pita Pit and Qdobas all weekend. We wanted to visit Jazzie Mae's in Fargo but wouldn't you know it...they are closed on Mondays! Argh...oh well next time I guess. We had an excellent weekend filled with fun and adventure and I look forward to our next mini trip.

Pizza

I tried to duplicate a pizza that dh use to have many years ago...double bacon cheeseburger. I sauteed some onions, mushrooms and ground up veggie burgers then added some spices and cheeze on top. I don't think it quite tasted like it use to but actually was not bad. The second pizza had mushrooms, green olives, pineapple and artichoke hearts on it. Definitely better than take out pizza.

Samosas and Basmatti Rice

We had a quick dinner tonight and had to use up these samosas we found in the fridge. Paired it up with a nice dipping sauce and brown basmatti rice and called it dinner.

Tofu in Lemon Caper Sauce and Green Beans/Potatoes

I have been meaning to make this meal for a few days now but life got in the way. The poor potatoes have been soaking in water for days! Tonight for supper we had frozen, pressed tofu wedges dredged in a cornmeal batter and topped with Lemon-Caper Sauce which was adapted from Eat, me delicious! I love this sauce it tastes amazing. A perfect combination of tart and salty. On the side I made the green beans and potatoes in maple-mustard sauce from Vegan with a Vengeance. This side dish is always a crowd pleaser. I made it with extra onions which caramelized nicely in the oven.

I also made a loaf of bread using the whole what bun recipe from the Vegan Dad blog. I halved the recipe and it made a perfect loaf of bread.

Sushi Saturday!

Simple sushi tonight with fresh avocado. It really hit the spot...

Tofurky Sausages

We had a quick dinner tonight of just some Tofurky Italian style sausages. I love the taste of these. I fried up some onions to go with it and loaded up the buns with the works. For the buns I used Vegan Dad's recipe for Whole Wheat hamburger buns. I love this recipe and the buns tasted great. Although I guess I have to work on my hotdog bun shaping skills :)

Stir Fry

Tonight's dinner used up 1 item from the fridge (leftover homemade satay sauce) and dried "beef" veggie strips from the cupboard. I sauteed some Shanghai noodles in the satay sauce with a little bit of soymilk to cut the heat, added the rehydrated strips and threw in some steamed broccoli and carrots. It really hit the spot.

I could not resist....pizza again

I just cannot get enough of this pizza dough...I love it to pieces! It makes the most amazing pizza base. I tossed some soy curls with earth balance and Frank's Red Hot Sauce and sprinkled some Blue Sheese on the pizza. Since we are out of fresh veggies I served it with a smoothie packed with at least 4 servings of fruits (bananas, blueberries, cranberries and strawberries with soy milk). It was so damn good!

Tempeh, Asparagus and Grains

For supper tonight we had Veganomicon's Hot Sauce Glazed Tempeh. I cannot stop raving about this recipe. It makes the tempeh taste amazing. I want to serve this to my next dinner guests because I love it so much. I just wish tempeh was not so hard to find in regular grocery stores. I used up some of the last local asparagus from the freezer and served it with the same grains we had last night. I discovered tonight that one thing DH does better than me in the kitchen is he knows how to make the Trader Joe's Harvest mix taste perfect, mine turned out a little soggy.

Leftover Meatloaf, grains and edamame

Tonight we had leftover meatloaf, which tastes excellent reheated!, a grain mix from Trader Joe's (isralean couscous, quinoa, orzo and split baby chickpeas) and Garlic Parmesan Edamame from the blog called 28 Cooks. It was a rather tasty meal. DH even helped me make the grains which turned out perfect. As for the edamame, they were good but not sure I would make them again. DH proclaimed them too difficult to eat. Perhaps they would be better with shelled edamame. I will admit they gave them a nice flavour.

Meatloaf, brussel sprouts and leftovers

For tonight's dinner I defrosted a seitan roast out of the freezer and made the Not your momma's meatloaf recipe from Vegan Vittles. I love this recipe. Super simple to make and tastes great. Filled to the brim with protein. I served it with leftover mashed potatoes and peas, bakes beans and brussel sprouts. I have to admit that I bought frozen brussel sprouts. I know shame shame...but I have never bought them before and nor will I ever ever buy them frozen again. I am actually thinking of returning them because they tasted so horrible. Not sure what I was thinking...

Pizza again

I made another batch of pizza dough tonight. This time we had leftover Soy curls with Frank's Red Hot Sauce, artichoke hearts, green olives and some Blue Sheese on top. I love this combination. I am going to have to find some more soy curls as I am down to only one bag.

For dessert I made a dessert pizza! I spread peanut butter and jam then added cut up bananas and some grated chocolate. It was nice for a dessert type treat. Next time I need a thinner crust and less jam.