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!

Lentil stew

This was meant to be a lentil soup but the lentils sucked up the water- so it was more like a stew, but I think I liked it better that way...

Ingredients:
6-8 peeled and chopped carrots
1 red bell pepper chopped
4 white potatoes peeled and chopped
2TBsp olive oil
1tsp sage
1tsp marjoram
1tsp oregano
1tsp thyme
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp rosemary
1TBsp vegan worcestershire sauce
2TBsp garlic
2 TBsp nutritional yeast
1 can chopped tomotaoes
1 cup white rice
1 package lentils
1/2 cup coy sauce

Directions:
In a large soup pan saute the spices and garlic in the olive oil. Then add the carrots and potatoes and cover with the spice mixture. Then add the lentils, rice, tomatoes, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, and yeast.
Add 8-10 cups of water (so it covers most of the additives) and bring to a boil. Then turn to low and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Even though it wasn't a soup it was a spicey deliciousness!

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.