a vegan thanksgiving

This weekend has been BUSY!
Went to a co-workers place for a thanksgiving dinner after work on Thursday- I brought along black bean and sweet potato enchiladas as well as some vegan stuffed mushrooms. Randomly one of the pies she had was vegan so had some of that too. Drank a little too much, as always.
The next day was Friday and after work my mom came up to visit- we went to Elephant Walk for a tasty dinner, always a favorite.
She stayed in a close by hotel. Then on Saturday we went to the BPL to admire its art, then to Veggie Galaxy for brunch, then the the MFA for the Degas show (not very good I have to say, I liked the pieces of other artists better then Degas' there). She left after that and I got ready for a vegan thanksgiving party.
About a dozen people came. The menu was all vegan, and this is what we had:
-tofurkey
-Mashed potatoes and gravy
-a 3 bean casserole
-tofu, lettuce, kale, and tomato salad
-vegan stuffing
-a mushroom side dish
-apple and cranberry sauce
-berry crumble pie
-vegan chocolate chip cookies
-LOTS and LOTS of wine
Plan to host it again next year, and don't knock tofurkey until you try it! The attached picture is our fridge after the party- leftovers to last the next week for me and Mark.

vegan BBQ chicken pizza

Tried something new- I love the smell of ANYTHING BBQ, and while I don't miss chicken (there are meats I miss even though I know I will never eat them again for ethical reasons, poultry is not one that I miss), I thought the regular buffalo chicken pizza Mark got the other week smelled good, so I thought I would take a recipe for BBQ chicken pizza and make it vegan.
It turned out ok- I was a little unimpressed but it was edible the night I made it. I will say when I ate it for leftovers the next morning it tasted a lot better the second time around.
Ingredients:
1 package of daiya mozzarella cheese
1 premade pizza dough package
1 package of smart brand fake chicken strips
BBQ sauce

Directions: roll out the pizza dough.
Line with a layer of BBQ sauce.
Place the fake chicken over this layer.
Cover with mozzarella.
Cook at 375 for 12 minutes.

creamy tomato pasta

Ingredients:
Pasta
1 can diced tomatoes
1 TBsp mixed spices (I used 21 spice from trader joe's)
1 TBsp olive oil
2 TBsp garlic
1 container tofutti cream cheese

Directions:
Cook the pasta according to the direction.
In a sauce pan heat the garlic in the olive oil on high. Then add the tomatoes and spices, turning the heat to low for 10 minutes. Then add the tofutti cream cheese and heat through.
Once the pasta is done coat with the sauce. I also added brocolli and cauliflower as well which added a little to it.

veggie hot pot

This dish tastes SO much better then it looks. This is leftovers a couple days later, which were just as good as the first time. An excellent fall warm dish, one of my favorite dishes in the last couple weeks. I took a vegetarian dish and made it vegan again here.
Ingredients:
For the veggie center:
2 TBsp canola oil
2 TBsp garlic
1 chopped white onion
1/2 cup chopped chives
1 YBsp chili powder
6-7 peeled and chopped white potatoes
2 cups peeled and chopped carrots
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup flour
1 can chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp thyme
1 can red kidney beans
1 can tomato paste
2.5 cups vegie stock

Directions:
Heat the oil in a sauce pan and saute the garlic and onion in this for 5 minutes. Then add the chili powder for one minute. Then add the potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, chives and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Stir in the flour for 1 minute.
Add the stock, tomato paste, choppe tomatoes, kidney beans, and thyme and then bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and place in a casserole dish. Bake for 30 minnutes.

While baking, make this topping- For the cheese triangles:
1 stick margarine
2 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup daiya cheddar cheese
5 TBsp soy milk

Hand stir the margarine, flour, and fake cheese together, and add soy milk as needed to make a smooth dough. Roll the dough out to 1 inch thick and then cut in to small triangular shaped pieces.

After the casserole has been cooking for 30 minutes remove and place the triangles on top. Sprinkile with a little extra fake cheese. Bake or another 30 minutes.
So delicious.

corn and green tomato salad

I saw green tomatoes at Trader Joe's this week and had to buy them. But then I realized I have been eating salad for lunch for a couple weeks now and I didn't really want to eat the usual salad with these tomatoes (typicaly Lidnsey salad is spinach, cukes, tomatoes, maybe chickpeas, and/or peppers). So I found this unique salad online, and it is way too simple, just too ingredients, but tasty.
Ingredients:
1 bag frozen corn (I used the microwaveable kind)
2 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 TBsp italian seasoning

For the dressing
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground allspice
dash of Salt and pepper
3 TBsp olive oil

Just mix up the corn and tomatoes with the italian seasoning first, then whisk together the dressing and serve over the salad.

sweet and sour stir fry

This recipe was ok- actually tasted just like the restaurant sweet and sour dishes I have gotten- the problem, I keep thinking I like sweet and sour dishes and then when I get them I am always dissappointed. I am just not a fan of warm pinapple I guess. But this was fun to make, and I did not hate it, as well as Mark liked it.
Ingredients:
rice
2 TBsp peanut oil
1 bag frozen diced green peppers
1 bag gardein fake beef chunks
1 cup carrot chips
1 cup cashews
1 cup mushrooms
2 TBsp V8
2 TBsp rice flour
2 TBsp white vinegar
4 TBsp soy cause
1 can pinapple chunks
1 cup cherry tomatos (I really only used them since they were leftover and I did not want them to go bad)

Directions:
heat the oil in a wok. Then add the bell pepper and gardein beef chunks and fry for couple minutes. Then add the mushrooms and carrot chips and tomatos and fry for a couple more minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the V8, rice flour, vinegar, soy sauce, and 6 TBsp of pinapple juice from the pinapple can. Add to the wok and let boil. Then add the pinapple chunks and cashews. Serve over rice.

mushroom and walnut stroganoff

I have done a lot of cooking in the last 2 weeks- time to update the blog with new recipes. I will start with my least favorite of the recent dishes: mushroom and walnut stroganoff- I took a vegetarian recipe and made it vegan. The picture makes it look like poop, and while it was not that bad, I will not be making it again. That being said, it did taste better as leftovers then the first time around.
Ingredients:
olive oil
1 chopped white onion
2 TBsp garlic
1 tsp. cumin
2 cup mushrooms
2 TBsp flour
2 cups veggie stock
1 container of tofutti sour cream
1 cup walnut pieces
pasta of choice (I used linguine)

Directions:
Cook your pasta according to the box.
While that is cooking work on the sauce: fry the onions and garlic for a couple minutes in a sauce pan. Then add the cumin and mushrooms and fry for another 5 minutes.
Then add the flour and mix for one minute before adding the stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the walnuts and sour cream after 15 minutes and cook for another 5 minutes.
Then serve over the pasta.