vegan pot pie

This was a new recipe, and I enjoyed it lots.
And I got to use a lot of the frozen food in the freezer, making Mark happy that I am clearing some of that out.
Ingredients:
1 bag frozen corn
1 bag frozen peas
1 bag frozen brocolli
2 packages trader joe's vegan beef strips
6 TBsp cornstarch
water
1 chopped onion
4 peeled and diced white potatoes
Olive oil

Directions:
Put a little olive oil on the bottom of a soup pan. Add the chopped onions and potatoes. Cook on high until browned. Then add the brocolli and enough water to cover the top of the veggies. Cook until boiling then on medium for 10-15 minutes. Then add the corn, peas, and fake beef strips.
Finally, add the corn starch until creamy.
Scoop all this in to a casserole dish (it took two casserole dishes to fit all mine, which is ok since it means I had more leftovers for this week).

For the crust:
Mix 3 cups flour with 1.5 cups crisco, mix together and add water as needed until it is pastry like consistency that you can roll out. Place on top of the veggie dish. Slice some holes in the top.

Cook at 350 for 40 minutes. Enjoy!

vegan shepard's pie like recipe

This one was a bit modifed from a recipe I found online and I am calling it a vegan shepard's pie as that is the ebst way for me to describe it.
Ingredients:
2 packages polenta from TJ's
6 cups of veggie broth
1 chopped red onion
1 bag frozen corn
1 bag froen spinach
1 bag frozen brocolli
3 baked sweet potatoes
2 TBsp tahini
2 tsp ginger
1 package silken tofu

Directions:
Bring the veggie stock to a boil and then add the corn and onions.
Chop of the polenta in to small slices and add to the broth. Cook on low for 40 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the spinach and pour in to a casserole dish.
Stick pour broccoli pieces on to the top and push down in to the mixture.
Blenderize the sweet potatoes, tahini, tofu, and ginger.
Pour on top of the casserole dish. Bake at 300 for 20 minutes.
This was a good one to serve with bread and as leftovers.

vegan curry

I am too tired to write up the recipe- but this was a sweet potato curry from one of my favorite cookbooks, "Vegan Planet".
It was quite tasty, the only problem was that the recipe maed enough for 10 days of leftovers...so by day 5 I was sick of curry.

vegan AND gluten free pasta dish

Made an easy tasty dish, and had some brown rice penne pasta around instead of regular pasta so it turned out to be gluten free too!
Ingredients:
1 package penne pasta
1 can plum tomatoes
1 can artichoke hearts
1 can black olives
2 TBsp olive oil
2 TBsp garlic
1 chopped onion
2 cups frozen corn

Directions:
Cook the pasta as directed.
Fry the onions and garlic in the olive oil until translucecnt.
Add the plum tomatoes and artichokes; using a wooden spoon mix and gently break apart the artichokes and tomatoes.
Add the olive ana corn and cook for another couple minutes.
Mix all ingredients together.
Initially this recipe was supposed to have some red wine and red pepper flakes in it too but I forgot them....it tasted just as good without!

fake chicken enchiladas

Had some friends from vet school over last night, and made a delicious meal for all in the process.

FAKE CHICKEN ENCHILADAS:
Bring 2 cans of enchilada sauce with 2 TBsp garlic to a boil. Remove from heat. Mix 2/3 of this liquid with 3 packages of fake chicken (I used Trader Joe's shredded fake chicken).
Spray a lasagna dish with non-stick spray. Take wheat tortillas and line the chicken mixture down the center. Roll and lie in the dish seam side down.
Once all of them are lined up in the dish put the rest of the enchilada sauce on top of the tortillas. Then sprinkle a layer of Daiya cheese and some frech cilantro leaves. Cover with foil and bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

I also made "avodillos" from the recipe at this site: http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2012/02/meet-avo-dilla.html
They did not look as good as this, but tasted phenomenal. I used agave nectar instead of maple syrup.

AMAZING fake chicken lasagna

Took a recipe from runner's world this month and made it vegan, and it was delicious!

Ingredients:
1 box lasagna cooked
4 cups of lightly fried fake chicken (I used morning star grillers)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
12 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used tofutti cream cheese of course)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
3 cups pasta sauce
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (Daiya fake mozzarella in this case)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (and again, vegan fake parmesan)

Heat oven to 400° F.

Combine fake chicken, basil, 8 ounces of cream cheese, and 1/4 cup broth.

Mix remaining cream cheese and broth in a separate bowl.

Spread 1/3 cup marinara on the bottom of a lasagna dish
Assemble layers as follows from bottom to top:
noodles
sauce
fake chicken mixture
fake mozzarella
noodles
sauce
broth/cream cheese mixture
fake mozzarella
fake parmesan

Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes.

Leaving dish on same rack, turn oven to broil. Remove foil and broil until golden brown, 5 minutes.

Remove from oven; let sit for 10 minutes.


AMAZING

vegan (and not vegan) hawaiian pizza

Made an interesting pizza this week from the recipe online found at Boca's website...I had some vegan fake ground beef from Boca and I looked up some recipes from the site: went with the Hawaiin Pizza.
I used a pre-made vegan dough. The sauce was a layer of BBQ sauce.
Then I put chunks of pinapples and sliced green peppers on top of that.
Then I pit a layer of the fake ground beef.
Then I put a layer of mozzarella. To be nice, Mark and I split the pizza so my half had Daiya cheese and Mark's had some other regular cheese.
Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, and enjoy! Very filling and tasty!

yummy simple spaghetti dish

This one was super easy and super tasty; hit the spot with some bread.

Ingredients:
1 package spaghetti
3 cups water
2 buillon cubtes (vegetable)
2 TBsp garlic
2 TBsp italian seasoning
1 TBsp onion powder
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 package fake ground beef

Directions:
Boil the water with the buillon cubes. Then add the garlic, seasoning, onion powder, and tomato paste. Once boiling again add the spaghetti a little at a time until all added.
Then add the fake ground beef. Once boiling again add the tomatoes. Cook on high until the pasta is soft and cooked.
I served it with a little bit of daiya fake mozzarella cheese.

fake chicken lo mein

The brand Gardein has recently made a ton of new vegan fake meat products...a lot are carried at Target. Some are not that good, some are great.
There website is great:
http://www.gardein.com/products.php?t=fresh
Out of their fresh stuff I like the Sante Fe Good Stuff a lot. The BBQ pulled shreds are good too, but there are a lot of different vegan fake pulled pork options. The chiken strips are no different then all the other fake meat chiken strips. The herb dijon breasts are DISGUSTING, but the rest of the fresh options are ok, especially if served on the side with something like veggies and mashed potatoes, or pasta.

Now their frozen selection is even better- the buffalo wings and the BBQ wings are not that amazing, but ok. I have not tried the burger. But the other options are all great. In particular, I LOVE the chipolte lime chicken fingers, and the mandarin orange crispy chicken is PHENOMENAL. I also love that their food packaging comes with great recipe ideas, and their website has a ton of recipes as well.
My new favorite quick and easy dinner is making some udon noodles and mixing in the mandarin orange crispy chicken. Once the noodles are cooked I put both the chicken (with the sauce that comes in the package) and the noodles in a wok and cook for a bit longer, frying a bit. Delicious.

vegan cmofort food...Tempeh, avocado and tomato sandwich

This is my version of a BLT, modified from Otherside Cafe's TLT...
I did one layer of lightly fried lightlife tempeh bacon strips, one layer of sliced avocado, one layer of tomatoes, and nayonaise on the toasted bread, served with chips on the side, goes best with a good light beer!