Vegan MoFo: Give Me S'More!

Today being Halloween, I thought it would be a good time to make my first ever at-home s'mores.  With no fire, and no desire to get the oven going for one s'more each for Mr. GV and myself, I opted to use the microwave.  I would have loved to have a slightly charred marshmallow but alas, it just wasn't going to happen tonight.  

I opened the graham crackers and marshmallow sampler from Sweet & Sara that have been sitting on my counter for weeks now, taunting me.  

We went with the coconut marshmallows for our first s'mores.  And my oh my were they tasty! 

And so ends my 2nd year of participating in the Vegan Month of Food.  I was most definitely challenged by my theme of baking.  I did find several good recipes that I hope to repeat soon, and cracked open a lot of my vegan cookbooks that were just sitting around begging to be used.  

I hope to participate again next year, but one thing I know for sure:  If I pick a theme, I will be preparing and cooking for 2-3 months before!  

Thanks for following along with me as I took on this challenge.  I hope you'll stick around because there's always more delicious vegan food to blog about!

Vegan MoFo: (Probably) no more baking

I am so over the baking I have been doing.  I wanted to challenge myself to bake more, and I certainly did.  If I've counted right, I baked 14 different dishes.  Considering how often I bake, I consider that a success!  Most of them were brand new recipes to me, except for the roasted chickpeas, lasagna, and lentil meatballs.  

And so if there is another baking recipe in the next 3 days, I would consider that a miracle!  I tended to do most of my baking when my husband was at work, and he is off work the next few days, plus we were gone this past Friday/Saturday so he could ride his first 100 mile bike ride.  So proud of him!

Yesterday was a wonderfully lazy day, but I did manage to cook up a big ol' pot of vegetable soup.  I am trying to work through our stash of canned goods plus use up some things in the freezer.  Vegetable soup is so good for that.  I used:  cans of crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, pizza sauce (in place of tomato sauce that I did not have), 2 cans of black beans, 1 can of Northern beans, a pint jar of home-canned purple hull peas, plus partial bags of corn and green peas from the freezer.  I added plenty of spices and then threw in some TVP at the end.  

It was a hearty, warming soup that was perfect for the cold evenings we are having right now.  Even better was the addition of the herb biscuits I made a few days ago.  

And now I am off to get a one-hour massage!  Have a great Monday everyone, and to those of you on the East Coast and in the path of Hurricane Sandy, I'm thinking about you!  

Vegan MoFo: Herbie Biscuits

BAKE SOMETHING ALREADY!

Next up:  Herb Garden Biscuits from Ripe From Around Here.  I used spelt flour for the first time and I liked it (I hope my husband don't mind it.  Sorry. Totally what Katy Perry would sing if she was making these biscuits.)  

The only problem I had was that the dough came out very sticky.  I added more flour, and then some more, and then just a little bit more.  

Here you see me checking the recipe one more time to make sure I added the right ratio of flour to liquid.  I did, but one thing I did do differently is use my coconut oil at room temperature instead of cold as directed.  It was still solid of course, but I suppose that might have made the difference.  

Love using my Granny P's rolling pin.  

Thankfully the extra flour and working of the dough didn't seem to make it tough or affect the taste.

The verdict:  Love them!  Just a nice flavorful biscuit.  I can see us making these to go along with vegetable soup this winter.  

Vegan MoFo: Twisted

BAKE SOMETHING ALREADY!

I've made soft pretzels once before, several years ago.  (Sounds familiar, huh?)  I decided to give it another whirl during Vegan MoFo.  I used a whole wheat recipe from the Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian Food zine, by Kittee.  Have I made any of the Ethiopian recipes from it?  Um, no.  But I fully intend to, after MoFo is over, so stand by!  

The dough, after rising.

After pretzelizing.  (Totally a word.)

Sesame seeds and salt for the toppings.

The yummy finished product.  I loved the sesame taste!

The verdict:  Mr. GV says they were "OK.  Not crazy about them."  He is not a huge lover of soft pretzels like I am.  If you are a bread fiend, and enjoy whole wheat and soft pretzels, I am pretty darn sure you will like these.  I loved them, and will be happy to make the recipe again.  And then eat them ALL up by myself!  

Vegan MoFo: Stuff it!

BAKE SOMETHING ALREADY!

My husband has asked me for years to make stuffed peppers.  Even in our pregan days.  So I decided this would be a great time to *finally* grant his wish.

I used a recipe from Rice and Spice.  We eat a lot of rice in our house, particularly me.  I enjoy eating a big plain ol' bowl of brown rice doused in nooch.  So I had bought the cookbook with the intention of cooking many different rice dishes from it, and of course it got shoved aside.  Until now.

The spinach and sun dried tomatoes cooked up in my great cast iron skillet.  

And then I added the rest of the ingredients.

Some stuffing, some baking, and voila!  It was as easy as that.

The verdict:  Mr. GV was so glad I finally made these.  Never mind that he'd been asking for them for 15 years at least!  I'll be making these again for him, and it won't take me the better part of two decades, that I can guarantee.

Vegan MoFo: Cheesecake

BAKE SOMETHING ALREADY!

My latest baking project was the Chocolate Banana Galaxy Cheesecake from Vegan Pie in the Sky.  I used chocolate cookies to make the crust, instead of just going with a graham cracker crust.  

The recipe is pretty straightforward.  I would have made this yesterday but the cashews needed soaking for 2-8 hours.  Oops.  Guess I should have read ahead  more.  

The cheesecake after marbling but before baking.

And a slice of the finished product!  

Verdict:  Mr. GV said it is very good.  The banana flavor is very strong, so if you aren't a huge fan of bananas, I wouldn't try this (obviously.)  I did not get to try it tonight because bananas and I have an issue, and to have any late at night is a very bad idea.  But I will most definitely be having some tomorrow!

Vegan MoFo: Travel Eats, Take Two

We decided to try out a local restaurant along the Virginia Beach strip on our last night there.  The front desk person at our hotel recommended Tautog's.  We had to wait quite a while to get a table for two, but I think it was worth the wait.  My mom enjoyed her food (not vegan, so no picture of that) and I liked mine too.  I had the Tau-Pho and a small salad.  

We made it back to the same city we stopped at on our way to VB, and once again went to Ruby Tuesday.  I think we were both looking forward to some vegetables!  This time they had spaghetti squash, so I got the salad bar and the spaghetti squash marinara.  It is *so good.*  Spaghetti squash, marinara sauce, and grilled zucchini.  Yum!  

Vegan MoFo: Travel Eats

I'm back home, but needed a day to catch up on things around the house, and just didn't feel like baking anything.  I take that back---last night we baked a Tofurky pizza.  Um, guess that doesn't count, huh?  

So here I present to you a few of my travel eats from my recent out of town trip:  

We stopped at a Ruby Tuesday on the way to Virginia Beach.  I wanted to order the spaghetti squash marinara, but they were out of spaghetti squash.  So I went with the usual salad bar and a trio of sides.  

My sister took us to Jewish Mother once we arrived in VB.  I had a veggie burger there.  I told the server I was vegan and wondered if the burger was too.  She knew what vegan was (yay) and checked for me.  

My mom and I went to Baladi Mediterranean Cafe while we were in VB.  Mr. GV and I ate here about a year ago, the last time we visited VB.  The food was delicious!  I had a cup of lentil soup and the Falafel Supreme.  The great thing about this restaurant is that the menu is clearly marked with vegan and vegetarian items.  

Vegan MoFo: Soup's on, and so are the goggles!

BAKE SOMETHING ALREADY!  

Around our house, we eat a lot of soups.  But they are usually the kind where you cut up the veggies, add beans, tomatoes of some kind, and spices.  This recipe, from Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews, is not that kind of soup.  

I had never made baked onion soup before and was dreading cutting up 8 onions.  

So I came up with a solution:  my nephew's spiderman goggles that he had been wearing earlier that day.  And they did the job!  

This was, of course, an extremely full-on-onion soup.  Maybe too much so.  

Although the cheese

and the bread cut through the monotony of the onions.

The verdict:  Mr. GV actually said "It's too much....onion."  I got a bit of a laugh out of that.  But in the end, he was right.  I would prefer more of an onion flavor and less of actual onions, if that makes sense.  I might try it again another time with less onions or more broth.  

Have a great weekend everyone!  I am still out of town and my return date is uncertain at this point.  I have no more baked recipes to pull out of my arsenal, so at least my first couple of posts next week will be about my vegan eats on this trip.

Vegan MoFo: Triple B

BAKE SOMETHING ALREADY!

Normally I eat vegetarian baked beans out of a can.  Bush's brand to be exact.  But this time I thought I'd step it up and make my own baked beans.  And so I turned to The Natural Kitchen cookbook for the Boston Baked Beans recipe.  

The weekend before I made this recipe, I had my nephew, J, over for the night.  The next morning we played outside with his toys.  

Macy, my 10 year old girl,

 prowled around the yard.  

Milo, naturally, was waiting to pounce and play.

Nope, no reason to include the last few pictures except for the fact that I enjoy the child and pets in my life.  :)  

But back to the recipe.  Tempeh bacon was called for but there is nowhere to find it in my town, so I used Smart Bacon instead.  No doubt the smoky flavor of the tempeh bacon would have added even more to the recipe.  

The finished product!

Verdict:  Mr. GV really liked these.  He is not a fan (despises) yellow prepared mustard so I was a bit concerned about putting these called for 2 tablespoons in there.  But I went ahead and he liked it just fine!  I have not had them yet because I went out of town the morning after I cooked them.  

Vegan MoFo: Black-eyed Peas & Quinoa

BAKE SOMETHING ALREADY!

You wouldn't know there were peas or quinoa in there from the look of the dish below, would you?  But that's actually what makes up the bulk of this dish, along with a delicious mushroom sauce.  

I saw this is Vegan with a Vengeance and knew I had to try the Black-eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes with Mushroom Sauce.  It's not what I would call the easiest recipe.  I used dried beans so there is soaking and cooking, then smashing, rolling into balls, rolling in the breadcrumb coating, baking, and then there is the preparation of the mushroom sauce.  

Verdict:  Do I think it was worth the time?  Yes.  I think this is a pretty, flavorful  dish that is worthy of being served at a dinner party.  

Vegan MoFo: Garfield's Favorite

BAKE SOMETHING ALREADY!

Good ol' lasagna.  I know most non-vegans probably think you have to give it up if you are going without cow cheese but the rest of us know that's not true of course!  

This recipe comes from The Chicago Diner Cookbook.  I bought this cookbook specifically for this recipe, as we had tried it at the Chicago Green Festival a few years ago.  

By the way--Chicago Diner?  If you are in the Chicago area and have never been, do yourself a favor and eat there pronto.  

Filling ingredients getting ready for processing.

We interrupt this MoFo post for a breaking update:  Milo is a cutie pie.  That is all.

The filling after processing.

The tofu filling, mixed with spinach, ready to be made into lasagna!

In the middle of processing.  I used rice noodles and they specifically said not to precook them.  By the time it was finished cooking, a couple of the ends rolled up on themselves and made a hard, unattractive little lump on top of the lasagna.  Not sure I will go with those particular noodles again.  

In the past I've only had vegan parm to put on top, but this time I had Daiya mozzarella and nutritional yeast.  

Ready to be served!

The verdict:  Mr. GV loves this lasagna.  I enjoy it, but perhaps not quite as much.  I think it's all the spinach.  Two packs is just a bit much for me.  If I was making it for just me I might cut the amount in half.  But at least I'm getting some healthy greens when I do eat it!  (I think I can, I think I can.)