It has been a while since I have experimented with a totally new recipe. Last night I the most fabulous potato leek soup. It was a true hit with my family. I will definitely be making this one again.

5-6 large potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
1 head of cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tbsp vegan butter spread
2-3 leeks sliced thinly
2 tbsp flour
6 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

Peel potatoes and cut up into small bite sized pieces. Boil in water for about 20 minutes, then add cut up cauliflower. Let boil an addition 15-20 minutes. Drain water and remove potatoes and cauliflower from pan. Put in two tablespoons of butter and saute cut up leek in it for about 5 minutes. Add two tablespoons flour and stir well for about 1 minute. Then add half of vegetable broth and mix well with leek/flour mixture. Add potatoes and cauliflower and then the remainder of the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and add salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for about 15-20 minutes and serve.

This weekend we made the best barbecue “beef” sandwiches. We cooked a package of fakin bacon in a stainless skillet with a light layer of olive oil for about 6 minutes (3 on each side), then added some barbecue sauce and sauteed for another 3-4 minutes. Then we toasted some sour dough bread in the toaster. Spread the bread with veganaise and topped with the barbecue fakin bacon. It was so unbelievable delicious. I would definitely recommend this the next time you go to a gathering where everyone is making barbecue sandwiches. It is everyone else that will be missing out.

It makes me so sad that I haven’t had a lot of time for posting and cooking lately. I am probably only cooking about twice a week lately. This week I made some really good food though. I made Vegan Black Bean Soup on Monday, one of my dh all time favorites, and Tuesday I made Italian Portabella Sandwiches. They were so awesome. I sauteed portabella mushrooms, some orange bellpepper and Herbes de Provence in olive oil and then added basil tomato sauce to it and let the flavors meld together. Then I hollowed out a sour dough bread role and scooped the mushrooms and sauce into the bread cups, topped with vegan mozzarella cheese and toasted in the preheated (400 degree) oven for about 10 minutes. It was definitely heavenly.

This week we also tried Fakin Bacon. I was craving a bacon type flavored sandwich. Though the Fakin Bacon didn’t taste like “bacon” to me, it did taste kind of like barbecue beef. We put on toasted bread with veganaise and it was so good. It just needs a little barbecue sauce and it will be the perfect summertime barbecue sandwich. I have been experimenting more with tofu lately and have been really liking what I taste. Last night I had a blackened tofu burger from New Frontiers (local health food store). It was so good. They put blackened tofu on a vegan whole wheat bun with veganaise, shredded lettuce, shredded carrot, sprouts, and onion. It had kind of a spicy flavor because of the blackened tofu. I could eat that for dinner every night it was so good. I am hoping to have some time in the next week to go blog visiting, because I just haven’t had the time or energy lately. I miss reading about what everyone is up to so much. Hope everyone is healthy and happy and I will visit you all soon.

So I broke down and finally tried the Amy’s Mattar dinner with Daahl. It was absolutely delicious. I have tried over and over again to find good frozen Indian food and have yet to be impressed until trying this dinner. I particularly liked the Da. I could have eaten a whole bowl of that alone. If you like Indian food this is a definite must try.

The next time I go to the health food store I will definitely be picking up some more of these to keep on hand for those hectic days when I don’t have time to cook.

I don’t know how many of you have tried the peanut butter Tofutti Cuties, but they are to die for. The chocolate is so chocolaty and the peanut butter ice cream is perfect and creamy. My whole family is hooked.

Last night I made a new variation of the nachos from the night before. I took most of the same ingredients and put them into a tortilla and made quick and easy homemade burritos. They were delicious, even better then the nachos I think.

Vegetarian Tortillas
Vegetarian Refried Beans
Guacamole
Tofutti Sour Cream
Taco Sauce
Green Onions

Wrap all ingredients up inside the tortillas and enjoy!

I have been doing simple cooking this week while adjusting to the new work schedule. Anything that I can cook in minimal time with maximum leftovers. I plan on doing a big thing of mashed potatoes tonight and make a big pot of Native American beans this week (can easily be converted into burritos and nachos, love the flexibility). Anything that I can cook in bulk and then turn into several dishes is definitely right up my alley.

I have picked up a couple of Amy’s Indian Food frozen dinners, but have been scared to try them, because all of the frozen Indian Food dinners I have tried so far have not been good and I love Indian Food. Nothing is worse then being all excited to try something and having the taste in your mouth and what you get tastes nothing like it and barely edible. Has any tried the Amy’s Indian Food dinners? If so, how were they? If I get brave enough to try them this week I will report back to you all on how they tasted.

It is funny, because I read the other day something about Tofutti cream cheese and Tofutti sour cream having partially hydrogenated oils. Apparently Tofutti cream cheese and sour cream comes in two versions, with or without hydrogenated oils. There was a whole discussion about how the non-hydrogenated version tastes chalky. I thought, Oh my God! I have been consuming partially hydrogenated oil, and I didn’t even know it. Because the Tofutti I eat tastes great, and the comments about how it isn’t very good were many, I just assumed I had been eating the hydrogenated version, based on the discussion. So the next time I went to the store I read the labels, and it turns out that the stores I shop at don’t even carry the hydrogenated version. That being said, I still love the products and don’t think they taste chalky at all, so there is no reason for the hydrogenated version.

I suck at remembering to take pictures of the food I make and last night was no exception. It sucks to, because my nachos were so pretty and tasted so absolutely fabulous. Anyway, here is the recipe and I will post pictures the next time I make them.

Vegan Nachos

1 can vegetarian refried beans
4 green onions chopped
1 cup Tofutti Sour Cream (non-hydrogenated version)
1 cup guacamole
1 cup salsa
1/2 can chopped black olives
4 cups tortilla chips

Heat refried beans on the stove until warm. Line a medium sized baking dish with chips. Cover the chips with refried beans. Top beans with salsa. Top salsa with guacamole. Top guacamole with sour cream. Then top sour cream with onions and olives. That’s eat, quick and easy dinner and oh-so-delicious.

Guacamole

1 ripe avocado
1/2 cup vegannaise
1/2 cup salsa (add more if you like your guacamole spicy).

Mash avocado and mix in vegannaise and salsa. Serve with chips or place on top of your favorite burrito, taco, or nachos.

Well, I have survived my first week of work and am re-adjusting to getting up at 4:45am. Luckily I only work a couple of blocks away from work since I have to be there at 5:30am. I have been making dinner in bulk so that I have nutritious vegan foods to take for lunch. We don’t use microwaves or plastic, so I have to take things that are either good cold (like my cold spaghetti today), or that I can heat in the morning and put in a thermos (like yesterday’s Vegetable Chowder). Thank goodness I still have some leftovers, because that will pretty much cover lunch this week. Tonight I am making vegan nachos. I will post pics and the recipe tomorrow. I am pretty excited about them. I have an idea in my head for how I want them and hope the taste matches what I imagine.

I got a great new vegan cookbook for Christmas. It has a lot of great recipes, many of which use tofu. I have been wanting to try some of the recipes because I don’t usually cook with tofu, mostly because I don’t know what to do with it, so I am psyched about learning how to cook with it. The cookbook is called Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson.

Has anybody used any of the recipes from this book? If so what are your favorites? I am looking forward to trying the French Toast and the Tofu scramble.

Also very exciting, I posted about Scheese a couple of months ago and had heard it was now available in the U.S. but couldn’t find it anywhere. Well, I just learned that you can order it through Vegan Essentials. Whole Foods is starting to carry it in very limited cities (Tempe, AZ among just a handful), but only the very lucky will have the opportunity to walk into a store and purchase whenever for now. I am definitely wanting to order some. My son loves cheese and I am hoping that this will get him off of it for good.

I just read about something that sounds like my version of heaven. It is the Bristol Vegan Fayre at the Amphitheatre and Waterfront Square in Bristol on June 9th and 10th.

All the vegan food you can eat, vegan food demos, entertainment, tearooms, a cruelty-free fashion show, guest speakers, kids activities and more. This is the ultimate vegan dream. To be able to go to a fair and know that everything is cruelty-free. To be able to taste all of the food that you wish to try and do some vegan shopping. I can’t think of anything that would be better than this. Unfortunately, I doubt I will be able to attend this year, but since they do it every year, it is definitely on my list of things to do before I die.

Rarely when I make fried potatoes do they turn out looking almost perfect, crispy on the outside tender on the inside. So I had to have my husband take a picture of these, because they will probably never turn out this perfect again. I did so a couple of things different than I normally do. I used my really big iron skillet (iron skillets are a must when making fried potatoes), then I poured in the olive oil and heated for a few minutes before adding the potatoes. Once I put the potatoes in I added the salt and pepper and made sure to coat all the potatoes with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Then I let them sit for a while undisturbed (about 10 minutes), flipped them once and cooked them on a low temp. Once they began to soften I turned the temperature up to make the outsides nice and crispy and added sliced yellow onion. I cooked until the onions began to caramelize and the potatoes had a nice crispy, golden brown appearance. I am so proud.

With my potatoes, I made vegan cornbread. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. I put in one cup of cornmeal, one cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup agave syrup, equivalent to one prepared egg of Energ Egg replacer, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 cup rice milk, 1/3 cup olive oil. Then I mix all the dry ingredients, then add the oil and mix well. Then I add the egg replacer, agave syrup and rice milk. Mix well and pour into a greased glass baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes. You know they are ready when the top begins to lightly brown.

This is my traditional “cowboy” meal served with Native American Beans. I love the simplicity.

You guys will not believe what I finally have for you. That’s right, Christmas dinner pics. I finally got my hubbie to download them off of the camera for me.

The first picture I have is of my precious baby boy on Christmas Eve.

Note: We thought the earth deserved a present too, so we bought a live tree to give back later this year.

Doesn’t he look handsome? He had so much fun on Christmas. The great part was we actually did things a little mellower this year and I think it was more enjoyable all the way around.

Next, we have a picture of my garlic mashed potatoes. They were delicious. Of course, I love mashed potatoes and could probably eat them everyday.

Next, my absolutely favorite food for Thanksgiving and Christmas, Vegan Green Bean Casserole. When I was pregnant that was all I wanted to eat.

Another family staple every holiday is this creamy and delicious Sweet Potato Casserole. I use natural sweetener so, for the most part, it is pretty healthy. My family uses it as a side dish, but when it is just my husband, my son, and myself, we actually treat it like a dessert.

Now for the main course, spinach pie, of which I forgot to take a picture of until after we ate it, but it still looks good. I love spinach pie. I really love it with hummus drizzled on top. So delicious.

To get the recipes for any of these dishes, click the link below:

Vegan Christmas Dinner

I know it is a bit belated, but once again, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a very Happy New Year.

I want to take the opportunity to say congratulations to vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz on her article in The New York Times, Strict Vegan Ethics, Frosted with Hedonism. This article was so awesome. Isa is author of Vegan with a Vengence and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. You can also find her at The Post Punk Kitchen.

Veganism has been getting a lot of positive press from The New York Times lately, Go Veg. The article on Isa is a wonderful piece. I love it when Isa says “vegans should stop whining about what they can and can’t eat, and start cooking. When someone invites you to dinner, bring something delicious, and share it. I totally agree with her. That has been my philosophy from the very beginning when becoming vegan. It has been such a wonderful thing, filled with great experiences. I have learned great creativity in the kitchen and feel great about the food I put into my body. I also love sharing my vegan creations with others and hope someday to be able to set up vegan cooking demos at some of the local festivals and farmer’s markets, where I can show people that vegan food is delicious and not strange. That is also a lot of the purpose behind the Vegan Fashion Blog. I want to show people that vegans are diverse. We come from all walks of life and can be just like everyone else, except we choose not to harm animals. Some people get annoyed with the girliness of the blog. But it is exactly this girliness that is the point. I want people to know that vegan fashion can be fun. That you can be vegan and dressed fashionably for the boardroom or the courtroom. I also think that people put a lot into how others are dressed, and that vegan activists may be heard by more people when dressed in a way that positively commands attention. When we dress differently, and adamently try to push our beliefs on others, people will dismiss us as freaks. I truly believe the saying that you catch my flies with honey. Educating others about factory farming without judgement upon them, dressing in a way that is elegant and demands attention, and providing people with the best that veganism has to offer, I feel is the best way to introduce them to a cruelty-free lifestyle.