Coconut peanut rice dish

This dish was modified from a recipe my friend Ryan sent me to try, with the original dish having quinoa. I changed it to rice since I am not a huge quinoa fan. Directions: Take 2 cups of veggie broth mixed with 1 can coconut oil and add 3 cups of rice. Bring to a boil and cook like you normally would cook your rice with water (it will need more stirring than usual as it gets sticky cooking in the other liquids). Meanwhile in a wok I fried up 1 package of tofu. Once a little browned, I removed the tofu and added 2 packages of frozen veggies (mine had cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli). I also had 1/2 a bag of spinach left over from the pizza I made the other night so threw that in too and cooked them in the wok. (This is a lot of food but amounts to 7 tupperware containers I can put in the freezer in addition to dinner for Mark and I, which is convenient for me since I will be working the 1-1 this weekend). Meanwhile in a blender I mixed/blenderized 1.5 cups peanuts, 2 TBsp cilantro, 2 TBsp tabasco, 1/2 cup lime juice, 1/2 cup sesame oil, 2 TBsp brown sugar, 2 TBsp garlic, and 2 tsp salt. Once the rice is done, add it to a large mixing bowl, then add the tofu, veggies, and peanut sauce once it is all cooked. Mix in 1 bunch of scallops that have been chopped up. I also had these weird little veggie pieces from an asian food store I mixed in. It is basically like adding in small crunchy saly things (peanuts or cashews could substitute it as well, and it is definitely not necessary for the recipe but I had it around and wanted to use it).

fried chicken sandwich vegan style

Fried dishes are always such a hassle to make, but the taste makes it worth it. For this one you will need some hoagie rolls or sourdough bread. And one package of gardein scallopini chicken. I heated up the chicken a bit in the microwave first so it was no longer frozen. To make the fried chicken: you will be dipping in to lots of stuff. Have a pan with 1 inch of veggie oil ready and heated for the frying, and a slotted spoon to take the stuff out. In one bowl 1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 TBsp cayenne pepper, and 1 TBsp caribbean seasoning. In another bowl first you have to blenderize 1 cup cashews, water up to the level of 1 inch above the cashews in the blender, and 1 TBsp of tabasco. Once blenderized place in a bowl. You then get messy: Take the fake chicken fillet, dip it in the cashew cream first, then the flour mixture, then back in the cashew cream, and finally into the fryer. Fry for 3-5 minutes each side. Once fried, place on a hoagie roll and top with slaw of your choice. I bought a package of premade sliced cabbage and carrots, and added 1 sliced green pepper and 1 sliced red onion to the cabbage. Then for the slaw sauce I whisked together 1&1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 TBsp dijon mustard, and 1/2 cup olive oil. Mix the sauce over the slaw veggies and top your sandwich with it. I also liked adding a little bbq sauce to the top of the sandwich.

vegan homemade mozzarella pizza

Well, the pizza overall was good, but the mozzarella was a little weird: kind of too gel-like, and not extremely flavorful, but with everything else I put on the pizza it was fine. Basically I used some pre-made pizza dough, and for toppings used lots of marinara, mushrooms, and chopped spinach. There were also dollops of homemade vegan mozzarella all over the pizza, which was the tough part to make. Place 1 can of coconut milk in a saucepan and heat on medium, whisking as you go. Once it looks like it is almost boiling add in 1 tsp of coconut vinegar (which I had to order online since it is really hard to find) and 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp agar powder (which I also had to order online). Whisk for another several minutes on medium heat, once boiling reduce ot low heat and mix in 1 TBsp tapioca powder. Whisk for another 5 minutes, then place in a flat bottomed glass dish. put in the fridge for at least an hour while it soidifies, then scoop out dollops to place on your pizza.

more delish tacos

This recipe is similar to a previous one I made: http://crunchyvegan.blogspot.com/2013/03/chicken-and-mango-tacos.html Everything was the same except I did not have green onions, and I added some chopped avocado to the salsa. Also, the meat I used was vegan citrus spare ribs. (http://www.vegeusa.com/VegeUSA/products/vege_spareribs.html). It was just as delicious if not better than the first time I made it.

Farfalle with vegan blue cheese, spinach, and walnuts

For another easy blue cheese dish, this one was simple. I cooked up a box of farfalle according to its directions. Then in a skillet first I wilted one package of spinach in a little olive oil. Then I added 1 cup walnuts and cooked until a little brown. Once this was browned I mixed in a large bowl the pasta, walnuts, spinach and added 1 tsp nutmeg, 3 ozs chopped vegan blue cheese, and 1/4 cup balsamic vinager. Super tasty!

Matchstick meats

some of the vegan products I bought this week and needed to work with: Vegan blue cheese and match meats fake stuffed porkchops. The broccoli dish was super easy. In a sauce pan first I melted 2 TBsp margarine, then whisked in 2 TBsp flour. Then on low heat I added 1/5 cups of soy milk, whisking in at 1/2 cup intervals. Then I added a dash of cayenne pepper and 1 oz. of diced vegan blue cheese. This mixture was then mixed in to a casserole dish with one package of frozen broccoli, and topped with 1/2 cup bread crumbs. Then baked at 350 for 20 minutes. I served it along side the vegan porkchops, which were just baked according to the package directions. http://matchmeats.com/wp1/our-products/what-is-match/ready-to-cook-meals/ready-to-cook-stuffed-pork-chops/

heavenly vegan stuffed french toast

I made Mark and I some vegan french toast this past weekend and OMG it was phenomenal. I bought some vegan nutella. First you whisk together 4 TBsp cornstarch (which I surprisingly did not have in the house so used sweet potato starch instead), 1 cup soy milk, 4 tsp vanilla, and 2 TBsp sugar. Then in a skillet heat some vegan margarine (I used earth balance). Take two slices of bread, spread the nutella mixture on the inside of each and stick together to form a sandwich. Then stick one side in batter and place the bread in the skillet batter side down. After about 2 minutes of frying, pour more batter on the top of the sandwich and flip over, frying another two minutes. Then top with a mixture of confectionary sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I served with vegan whipped cream. This is one of those recipes that you could tell was not good for you, but it was SO GOOD.

spasagna

I recently ordered a bunch of new vegan products online, one being vegan riccota cheese. So I googled some recipes for riccota pasta and found spasagna, which was super easy to veganize. First I made spaghetti noodles as directed. In a large bowl I mixed together 1 container of riccota, 1 container tofutti sour cream, 1 cup vegan creamer, 1 bag vegan mozzarella (I used daiya), 1 TBsp garlic, 1 TBsp oregano, and 1 tsp basil. Once this was mixed and the noodles cooked, I added the noodles to this creamy mixture and then placed in a large baking dish. Topped with vegan parmesan I baked it for 30 minutes at 350. While that was cooking I made the sauce, which was just a jar of spaghetti sauce mixed with some vegan beef crumbles and peas. Once the spaghetti dish was baked, you place some of the noodles on a plate and top with the sauce. It was a little too creamy and sweet, but overall good.

Seafood newburg vegan style

As a child my mother always asked us on our birthday what our favorite meal was and then she would make that meal for our birthday dinner. Mine was always seafood newburg, so once I went vegan that was tossed out the window. Until now. I have found several companies that make vegan seafood, some better than other. None are quite the same as the real thing. But I made my favorite seafood newburg vegan this week. I had scallops and prawns from Sophies, they are vegan and a little rubbery but have a nice flavor. First you melt 1/4 cup margarine in a pot, and then add 1/2 cup flour and 2 cups soy milk, whisking it in. Then you add 2 TBsp catsup and 1 TBsp Worcestershire sauce. Then 1 TBsp soy sauce. I added in some forzen peas in addition to the scallop and prawns then. You keep cooking until all cooked through. Then in pre-made puff pastry shells (which are inherently vegan) you can place the delish mixture and enjoy. It was not quite the same, but came close to my memories of my old favorite dish.

amazing greek salad like salad pizza

This was a recipe I borrowed from another vegan blog and adjusted, and it turned out phenomenal. Mark loved it too. First I took some premade pizza dough and rolled it out, covered it with pizza sauce, and then cheese, then a mixture of canned mushrooms and olives. Cooked for 12-14 minutes until the crust was browned. Once out of the oven and a little cooled I topped it with an arugala salad- basically I had a package of 1/2 and 1/2 arugala and spinach. For the dressing I whisked together 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 TBsp lemon juice, 1 tsp dijon, 1 tsp thyme, and 1 clove garlic. I mixed the arugala in this and topped the pizza with it. DELICIOUS!!