Tried a modification recipe this time.... I previously made a mushaboom dish from the hungry birdie. http://www.thehungrybirdie.com/2011/03/mushaboom.html http://crunchyvegan.blogspot.com/2012/12/mushaboom-and-pasta.html Basically I took Mark's advice and made the same mushaboom dish but added a bunch of chopped green tomatoes and 2 TBsp of Baslamic vinegrette. It was super tasty. On the side I made gardein's chicken tenders topped with pasta sauce and fake cheese for a chicken parm like effect. In the picture with all the chicken parm I used daiya cheese as well as TJ's new vegan mozzarella cheese, which is hard to tell the difference from the real cheese covered ones for Mark. Can you guess which ones are which?

lasagna cupcakes?

This meal was interesting, and tasted better then I thought. First I chopped up one summer squash and combined it with whole garlic chunks as well as 1 package of mushrooms in a skillet, and fried with olive oil until cooked. I also had a package of sundried sweet red pepper whichi I mixed in to the cooked veggie mix without actually cooking. I bought some premade vegan wonton wrappers. Sprayed a cupcake pan with nonstick spray, and made some tofu riccotta. For the tofu riccotta I crumbled one package firm tofy and added 2 TBsp basil, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp garlic powder, and 2 TBsp olive oil. Then I placed 2-3 wrappers in the bottom of the cupcake tray to make a cupcake holder. First I placed a layer of the tofu riccotta, then a layer of veggies, then topped it with a generous dollop of pasta sauce, and lastly with daiya cheese. All was baked at 350 for 10 minutes. It was actually super tasty.

Chicken and mango tacos

This meal was phenomenal. End of story. First I mixed the mango salsa up by combining 1 package of chopped mangoes, 1 package chopped green onion stalks, 1 chopped cucumber, 1 TBsp dried cilantro, 1 TBsp lime juice, and some salt and pepper to taste. I then cooked up some brown rice as well as the gardein mandarin orange chicken as per their instructions. On some corn tortillas I placed the rice, then the fake chicken, then the mango salsa. DELICIOUS and one of my new favorites.

grilled cheese with avocado

This was the best grilled cheese sandwich I have ever made!!! I took two avocados and pulverized them, mixing them with 2 TBsp sesame seeds, 1 TBsp cilantro, 2 TBsp olive oil, and 1 tsp lime juice. I then spread this on one oside of a slice of TJs sourdough bread. I melted a TBsp margarine in a pan and added the bread with the avocado spread, then topped with daiya cheese, then another slice of bread. Fry on both sides until brown. I never really liked grilled cheese as a kid but this was phenomenal.

seaweed chicken sandwich

I created another decent sandwich this week: First I took some sourdough bread and toasted it. I also cooked some crispy gardein chicken fillets according to the instructions. I sliced up an avocado and had some dried seaweed toppings from TJs. I took 1/2 cup vegan mayonaise and mixed in 1.5tsps of wasabi powder. I applied the wasabi to either slice of bread, and then the sliced avocado, then the chicken and lastly topped with the seadweed. Mark told me if I ever open my vegan restaurant I should make it for lunch, it would be a huge hit! On the side I made some cream cheese and onion dip- using more seaweed topping instead of onion and vegan tofutti cream cheese, dipped with chips!

amazing flat bread

So I had come across a smoked tofu pizza recipe on one of my favorite blogs (vegan dad: http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2012/06/smoked-tofu-pizza.html). The picture looked really good, but when I actually pulled up the recipe I realized it had sweet onion in it (I am not a big onion fan) and I was a little less interetsed, so I modified it in to a flat bread dish that I made for myself, which was AMAZING. Mark had told me he was not hungry that night so I made it just for myself and when he saw me eating it was super jealous. Directions: First make tofu riccotta: crumble a block of firm tofu in a large bowl, then mix in 2-3TBsp olive oil, 1 TBsp lemon juice, 1 TBsp italian seasoning, and 1-2 TBsp garlic. Then in a pan fry some spinach and seitan chunks until warm and seitan is a little browned. On a large pan spray some non-stick spray, then spread out a pizza dough. First spread the tofu ricotta all over the bottom. Then top that with the seitan/spinach mixture. Lastly top with daiya cheese. Bake at 500 for 10-15 minutes until crust looks done. It was AMAZING.

I had some potatoes I had bought with the intention of making homefries but never got around to it. So I wanted to use them before they got moldy and had lots of pasta but minimal frozen veggies in the house, so I decided to google a recipe for pasta with potatoes in it. Most of what I found was gnocchi of course, but found this recipe that I modified which was quite tasty- it was more like a fake beef stew in the end. In a large soup pan add some olive oil and fry up some fake meat of your choice (I had gardein fake beef chunks). After that is cooked add your white potatoes (chopped in to bite size pieces) and 2TBsp garlic. Cook until the potatoes start to brown. Then add 1 can of diced tomatoes, 2-3 cups of water (enough to cover the food at the top), 1 TBsp cilantro and a dash of salt and pepper. Stir and heat until boiling. Then add 1 box of uncooked pasta of your choice (I used rotinin), turn heat to medium, and cook covered (but stir frequently) for 20-30 minutes until pasta is cooked within the mixture and most of the liquid is soaked up. Like I said, it had a nice stew like consistency.

intereting pasta dish with bread in it

I really enjoyed this recipe, very unique pasta dish. Cook a box of farafelle like you normally would in boiled water. While that is cooking, fry some olive oil in a skillet and I took 4 slices of TJ's sourdough bread crumbled in to small pieces and fried them up in the oil. Once golden and crispy place aside in a large mixing bowl. The in the pan add some more oil and 2 TBsp garlic as well as 1 box of baby bella mushrooms and 1 package chopped brocollini. Fry until soft and once soft add some salt and pepper, and add to the mixing bowl. Once the pasta is done add it along with one package of arugala to the large mixing bowl with the other cooked ingredients and stir up. Add 3-4 TBsp balsalmic vinegar and stir. So tasty, the bread and arugala really add great flavors. I also made these apple muffins that same day since I had leftover dying apples to chop up and bake.