Mexican Pizza!!!

God I love pizza. And black beans. And tomatoes. And avocados are probably my favorite thing in the world....so naturally this was a great pizza. As will be the recipes from taco night to follow. Tacos and pizza, I could live on those two staples as there are so many creatuve ways to make recipes from it all. So this pizza: Basically I had a whole wheat pizza dough rolled out. I rinsed 1 can black beans and 1 can diced tomatoes then mixed them together and spread them all over the pizza. Then I topped this with vegan cheese, then sliced red and green peppers, red onion, and mushrooms. This was all baked at 450 for 15 minutes, and topped with delicious avocados when done.

Vegan Drunken Noodles!!!

Loved this recipe! TJ's carries fresh vegan rice noodles- I used two packages for the recipe. I brought a large pot of water to a boil and added the rice noodles until cooked. In the meantime I mixed together 1/3 cup soy sauce with 2 TBsp brown sugar. In a large skillet I fried some diced extra firm tofu in a little peanut oil. Once starting to brown, I added 1 small chopped red onion to the skillet. Lastly I added all the ingredients together: 3 garlic cloves, 2 cups broccoli florets, 1 cup basil leaves, the cooked noodles, and the sauce I made up earlier. Once cooked through I removed this to a bowl, added 2 cups fresh bean sprouts, and topped with a crunchy Asian snack (TJ's had a vegan sesame stick topping that I used here).

African Groundnut Stew

Another oldie but a goodie. In a large pot mix 1 chopped yellow onion with 1 TBsp olive oil until browned, then stir in 2 TBsp garlic, 2 tsp ginger, 1 TBsp brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp cumin. Once blended in add 2 cups chopped butternut squash and 4 chopped sweet potatoes to the pot. Stir to coat with all the spices. Then add 2 cups of water, or enough to bring to just over the level of veggies. Bring to a boil. While heating, in a bowl whisk together 1/2 cup peanut butter with 1/2 cup water until very thin mixture. Turn the heat in the pot down to low after it was brought to a boil and add in the peanut butter mixture, as well as one can of drained kidney beans. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes, then add 1 cup peanuts and stir in. Serve over rice, or with flat bread (I love the TJ's middle eastern flatbread).

open face fajita style quesadilla

This quesadilla was super easy. I used one package of trader joe's fake steak- placing the package in a large ziplock bag I also added 4 TBsp lime juice, 1 TBsp canola oil, 1 TBsp cumin, and 2 tsp chili powder to the bag, mixing it all up. This was then left out to marinade for 30 minutes. Once marinaded, I fried this up in a little canola oil in a skillet. Then I sliced up one green bell pepper and 1 red bell pepper, and added them to the skillet and fried them up a little. Then I used an open face tortilla and topped with daiya mozzarella and pepperjack as well as the ingredients. Super simple and tasty.

And the really fun part about this dish was the super simple tasty side sauce: mix together one cup vegan sour cream, 2 TBsp lemon juice, 1 TBsp agave, 2 tsp paprika, and 1 tsp cumin.

vegan shrimp on the barbie quesadillas

I know a lot of people wonder why I like fake meat as a vegan, and often times question me saying things along the line of "aren't you missing the point?" or "why not just eat the real thing?" Well, those of you that know me better know that I went vegan for the animal rights aspect of it. And yes, I did like meat, the taste, smell, and texture of it, before I went vegan. But I ended up realizing that with my ethical beliefs I just could not justify eating flesh, something that meant I was taking a life in the process of enjoying my meal. So being a new vegan I was a fan of the fake meats. And they have come a long way since I went vegan. However, one area that is truly lacking is the meat that I miss the most: seafood. There are a couple brands of vegan shrimp or scallops, but none are really that good. This meal, with Sophie's fake breaded shrimp, was actually pretty good. I thawed them in the fridge the night before. First I sauteed 1 bag frozen corn, 2 diced zucchini, and 1 package chopped green onions in a little margarine. Using a mixture of vegan provolone and swiss cheese sliced in to strips, I placed them on a tortilla wrap in a skillet. Then I spread the fake shrimp over this, then the veggies, then another layer of fake cheese. Lastly another tortilla went on top. As always I struggled most with flipping the quesadilla without losing the innards, but once crisp I served the quesadilla with barbecue sauce: really tasty, though the texture of vegan shrimp is a little unnerving.

chicken parm burgers vegan style

This is another super easy, quick in a jiffy recipe. I had some vegan spicy fake chicken patties that I first heated up in the microwave for a minute. Then I applied a layer of marinara sauce and daiya provolone on top of them, placed them in the oven along with a bun, at 400 for 5 minutes. Meanwhile I mixed some arugula with olive oil and balsamic vinagrette, and pureed some vegan pesto together in the food processor. For the pesto just blenderize 2 cups fresh basil leaves, 2 TBsp garlic, 1/2 cup pine nuts, 4 TBsp lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 TBsp nutritional yeast, and a dash of salt and pepper. I applied the pesto to the bottom bun, and then topped the burger on the bun with the arugula. Super tasty and takes 15 minutes or less to make!

tostados

Wow, Mexican really is a fall back for me and I can't really go more than a week without making something Mexican: It's so easy! Take this tostado dish: I fried up a small amount of Trader Joe's fake beef,chopped up some tomatoes and avocados, piled all of this and some butter lettuce on a tostado, and topped with some in a jiffy vegan ranch dressing. Amazing....

Thai Coconut Curry Stew!

This was another easy one to make, with lots of tasty leftovers. In a large pot I mixed together 2 cans coconut milk, 1 cup vegan creamer, and 4 cups veggie broth. This was heated to medium and once mixed I added 1/3 cup Thai red curry paste, 2 TBsp ground ginger, 3 TBsp garlic, and 3 stalks of diced lemongrass. This mixture was brought to a boil. Then it was simmered and I added 2 large red bell peppers (in strips), 4 large sliced carrots, 1 bag frozen peas, and 1 container of tofu cut in to cubes. This was simmered for about 15 minutes and then served over rice. The only weird thing about the recipe was the lemongrass- I love ordering things with lemongrass usually, but I have never cooked with it before. The small pieces of lemongrass in the stew had an odd texture and did not fit well, though they added to the flavor.

Southwestern grilled cheese with chili

The chili in this recipe was super easy to make as I make it every year- just some black beans, garlic, crushed tomatoes, chili powder, and vegan ground beef in the slow cooker, as well as the staple cashews. But the new recipe here is the grilled cheese: First I took one chopped up sweet potato, 1 sliced yellow and 1 sliced red bell pepper- I heated these up in a skillet in some olive oil. Once cooked I set aside. I also mixed a bowl of 1 can kidney beans and 1/2 cup salsa, mashed together. Using Daiya's havarti wedge I sliced thin pieces of cheese and placed on either side of two pieces of bread, then on top of one I placed the sweet potatoes and pepper mixtures, on the other some of the bean-salsa mixture. These were then placed together in sandwich from and grilled in a skillet with vegan margarine. Spicy!

Thanksgiving sandwiches!!!

This was a great leftover sandwich that I was able to make with tofurky slices. Just make a sandwich with wheat bread on either side, and for the center you can make some mashed potatoes as well as vegan stuffing. The layers went like this: Bread vegan mayo tofurky stuffing mashed potatoes cranberry sauce bread I also served it with some gravy on the side.