spicy tahini pasta with fake chicken

I got to try a new recipe for Witt and Ryan the other night when they came over for dinner, it turned into a tasty and spicy pasta with a nice balance of fake meat on the side.
The pasta ingredients:
1 box of whole wheat rotini
1 bag frozen broccoli
1 bag frozen cauliflower
1 can pigeon peas
2 TBsp garlic
1/4 cup tahini
1 TBsp lemon juice
2 TBsp soy sauce1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
1 cup veggie stock
2 TBsp sesame seeds

directions:
cook the rotini as per directed.
In a blender, combine the garlic, pigeon peas, tahini, lemon juice, soy sauce, and cayenne until smooth.
Combine this withe the veggie stock in a pot and heat on low, stirring.
Just before the rotini is done boiling, add the broccoli and cauliflower and boil another 5 minutes.
Drain the pasta and veggies. Mix the tahini sauce in, covering well. Then stir in the sesame seeds.
It was a little spicy, but very filling.

Then on the side I baked gardein's chicken strips as per the directions on the package, Just before they were done baking, I poured tomato sauce and fake cheeze over them and baked another 2 minutes.

This picture is the leftover I had for lung the next day- it doesn't do it as much justice as it deserves, this was a really good meal!

vegan fettuccine alfredo

This was a new one for me- and another one that tasted better as a leftover since the alfredo like sauce got harder.
Ingredients:
fettuccine
mushrooms
asparagus
3 TBsp garlic
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup vegan margarine

I cooked the fettuccine like any pasta while making the sauce. And the asparagus and mushrooms- I just had some in the fridge so decided to use them in the dish- I boiled them separately while working on the sauce.
For the sauce:
Saute the garlic and margarine until garlic is browned.
Add the yeast and whisk until blended in, cooking at medium-high.
After a couple minutes add the soymilk and whisk in. Turn down to simmer and continue to whisk until becomes thick...(This was the tough part for me, it didn't really thicken like most of the creamy recipes I make).
Then toss with the fettuccine and asparagus and mushrooms. It was tasty, but here you can tell it was a little soupy with regards to the sauce. However, I put a lot in containers as leftovers, and those congealed so that when it was reheated in the microwave it was the perfect, expected alfredo sauce consistency!

vegan "gyros"

I stole this recipe from the TVP website. (textured vegetable protein in case you were wondering). I recently bought some TVP, my mom used to cook with it a lot when I first went vegan but I have little experience...then I realized I had no recipes for it!
I went to the "Bob's Red Mill" website and tried their vegan gyro recipe, which turned out to be great!
The website is here: http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes_detail.php?rid=637
I did not put in any mint or lettuce, and it was still super tasty!

super easy peanut stir fry

I think stir frys are so amazing and so EASY! This one was just some gardein veggie protein, carrots, cauliflor, brocolli, peanuts, and peas in a store bought pre-made vegan peanut satay sauce over jasmine rice.

A busy weekend...

Last weekend was a busy one, and lots of fun too!
Friday night I actually got to go out dancing with Mark and company...I was pretty tired though, I am an old lady afterall and meeting at a bar at 10:30 is super late for me.
Saturday night was Mark's dad's 65th suprise bday. It was fun, I got to help set up with Jacqui and Matt. And I finally after 3 years met Mark's extended family. Of course everyone was wondering who I was and almost couldn't believe I existed.
I made an apple coffee cake as well as a pesto potatoe salad for the party which were both big hits :).

The recipe is super simple.
Then Sunday was just as big of a day. We got up at 8am and headed to Albany...stopped by my mom's house and picked up Mark's commissioned paintings of the Philly City Hall building which he loved. Then went to Heather and Denis' house for Heather's bday party, which ended up being more of a kid party, but it was fun. It was neat meeting some of your students (adults learning english better), they were very interesting people.
Then we went to my grandma's house for dinner. It was nice, but my brother and my cousing couldn't make it which sucked. We did make a pit stop at my brother's liquor store where he was working and bought 3 cases of wine for $210...A long and tiring but fun day overall.

my first vegan stew

I have never really made "stew" before...always made soup or chili...but I recently bought a weird brand of vegan soy sausage at the store since I was intrigued, and then had no idea what to do to cook with it, so I looked up a recipe to make a vegan stew with it...


Ingredients:
soyrizo (above)
1 chopped yellow onion
1 chopped green bell pepper
5-6 red potatoes peeled and diced
1 cabbage cut in to small shreds
4 parsnips peeled and chopped
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 TBsp soy sauce
3 cups veggies stock
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3 cans chickpeas
2 tsp oregano

Directions:
In a large soup/sauce pan heat the onions in some olive oil until soft.
Then add the pepper until soft.
Then add the potatoes, cabbage, parsnip, tomatoes, soy sauce, and veggie stock. Cover and simmer on medium low until the veggies are tender (50 minutes or so).
Then add the oregano, red pepper, and chickpeas and cook for another 10 minutes.
Lastly add the veggies sausage (the soyrizo package had me fry it in a little olive oil for 5 minutes until browned and it was all crumbly when I added it to the stew).
Cook for another couple minutes and enjoy! I had 4 days of leftovers with this meal. And Mark really liked it too, said it was one of the best stews he had ever had with the potatoes perfectly cooked.

vegan black bean flautas

I made these a couple weeks ago for one of Mark's family's get togethers for Easter, and sadly it tasted good but did not work out as well as I would like...still, a good recipe for appetizers at a party.
Ingredients:
1 chopped yellow onion
2 TBsp chopped garlic
2 cans of black bean
2 tsp chili powder
1 jar pre-made salsa
1 cup frozen corn
corn tortillas

Directions:
heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan and then add the onions and garlic. Cook until browned. Then add the beans, chili powder, and 1/2 cup water.
Simmer on medium until the water is evaporated.
Then remove from heat and mash the beans until at least half the beans are mashed, 1/2 in tact.
Then stir in the salsa and corn, and hat for another couple minutes.
Scoop the mixture to fill the middle of the corn tortilla, wrap, and place on a baking sheet. Cook as many as you want at 425 for 6-10 minutes.
I have made them before and they are a hit at parties as appetizers...the problem was I amde them at home and took them to the Herlings which was an hour away, and then they had cooked a lot of food for Easter so it was a big debate on when and how to cook them...so by the time they were cooked the corn tortillas had all broken and fallen apart... :(
But here is a picture of the filling...the filling alone is great so I might use that in the future to fill tacos or something.

The Cape Relay 2011

I just ran the Cape Relay with a team from work this weekend and it was lots of fun, with some new experiences for me. I definitely hope to run another one as long as I get asked to in the future!
what happened?
We arrived at Angell and packed our van, 6 people per van for our 12 person team plus Courtney (DT's girlfriend) was our designated van driver. Then we were off to the Borderland State Park for the start. Our team left at 10:45- our van, van 1, did the first round of legs. Charity started, and it got hot fast. All 6 of us ran our legs, with our first experience of the "Dynamic Warm Up Dude" at Leg 5- he made an appearance at every other round of legs, where he ran up and down the parking lot doing lunges, sidewinders, and sprinting.
My leg was leg 6, which was the one that handed off to our Van 2 at the end. I expected to run about a 10minute mile...we were supposed to have a "you're a mile from the finish" sign when I was, and I anticipated seeing that sign around 3:17p meaning I would hopefully finish my 6.9 miles by 3:27p. Well by 3:20 I was worried I had not seen the sign since I was behind schedule- then I cam e around a corner and a cop directing traffic told me I was almost there, and when I asked how far he said less then a quarter mile! I ended up finishing at 3:22p, 4-5 minutes ahead of schedule. By that point our team was 20 minutes ahead of our anticipated time.
Our team continued to knock off time. While Van 2 ran their 6 legs we went to Plymouth near the next major exchange. We showered and relaxed at Hennesey's house and wandered down to down town plymouth. Of course, Van 2 was supposed to be done by 10ish but instead cam in at an hour early, so we didn't rest at all.
Then started the night legs. It was a new experience for me. I started my leg at 12:30am, and running with a headlamp and a flashlight up hill for 6 miles in the dark and alone was difficult, but an experience.
After that Van 2 took over again. We went to the next major exchange and slept, stinky and sweaty in the van for 3 hours. At 5am we were up and ran our last legs at 6am.
Eventually we waited for van 2 at Meadow Beach in Truro on the Cape, and our team came in at 12:30p, which was an hour and a half ahead of scheduled. It was a great experience and I hope to run a relay again...plus there was a beer garden at the finish which kept our eyes on the prize. ; )