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.