Peanut-Lime Bowl

Appetite for Reduction suggests using tempeh in this bowl, but I didn’t have any extra tempeh–so I just dry-fried some tofu. I think that it probably had a milder flavor, since it’s missing the bitterness of tempeh, but I liked that! I made an awesome marinade for the tofu out of two tablespoons (each) of liquid aminos and chili garlic sauce with about 1/2 a cup of veggie broth. Score!

Can I get an amen for the mixture of peanuts and lime? Really, why isn’t there more peanut-lime goodness out there in the world? Would peanut-lime butter even be feasible? I may need to test this out.

I also had a ton of extra sprouts–I forgot to put them on the chef salad we had yesterday. So I put sprouts on this. Genius! And it furthers my thesis that sprouts belong on everything. Almost.

Cookie Tease

Before I was a vegan, I had a super secret cookie recipe that made people crazy. It was beyond amazing. I haven’t been able to replicate it yet, but I think I’m getting closer. So this is just a cookie tease until I have my real recipe ready, and then I’ll share it! I promise!

Do You Have Much Spare Time? Salad

Seriously. Do you? Because you’ll need it. I started making this salad yesterday.

I believe this is what they call a Chef Salad? Well, the chef is tired. And the chef forgot to put on the sprouts.  And the chef needs a glass of wine and a nap. I don’t even drink, people. I will say this: this salad was (mostly) worth all the work. I loved the eggplant bacon, my tofu rocked it, and the herbed cauliflower kicks any crouton’s ass.

And I will also say that I found the dressing to be way over-dilled. That could be my fault, since I use freeze-dried dill. It says to use it like fresh. But I don’t think that was a good idea at all. I’d be willing to try this again, but possibly only when I feel like punishing myself with four hours of prep work in the kitchen.

I will never be a chef.

Recipe from Appetite for Reduction. Duh!

Banana Breakfast Cookies

Behold! Somewhere, beyond space and time, banana bread and cookies collided. As they cooled and descended through the atmosphere of earth, a shining star was seen in the sky. And it was to be known as…

*aAAaaaAAaaaaawwwaaawwwa!!*

The Banana Breakfast Cookie. Part oatmeal cookie, part banana bread, part awesome idea. Where have you been all my life, cookie? Oh, what’s that? I wouldn’t have heard about you cause I wasn’t a vegan then? So it’s my vegan bat-signal that brought you down from the heavens? Hurrah!

Seriously, though, this thing is awesome. I’m so glad I baked these, and I now get to have one every morning for a month. Because you can freeze them!

Look into the mysterious tome known as Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar for the recipe.

Beets, beets, beets, beets…

Baked tempeh. Homemade rolls. Little cute orange segments. One pound of beets. A $2.50 box of wild rice. Dinner!

I feel like I should have added the cliched “priceless” at the end of that list. But I’m gonna go with–this was good. Not great, not…OH MY WHAT? AWESOMESAUCE. It was just, you know, different. Very orangey. Very…I don’t know what. My husband couldn’t really place the flavors, except to say they were complicated, and he was shocked to discover he liked beets. I would make this again in one of those moods when I had two hours to kill and didn’t really know what I wanted to eat. Or, it may be more of a fall food than a spring food. Who knows?

The rolls though…seriously. Just made with leftover english muffin dough. They were stellar. That dough is the most perfect dough recipe in the whole world. Lucky me, I get to make it every week!

Recipe from Appetite for Reduction.

“Oh my, aren’t you a fancy one?”

Tonight madame will be having the Mushroom Cranberry Salad with potatoes and asparagus? Very good.

Seriously, this dinner was so stinking fancy! The dressing had all the fun of shallots, horseradish and balsamic vinegar. How can you possibly go wrong with that? And mushrooms! And garlic! And magic! *poof*

I also really love steaming potatoes. Just the smell of a steamed potato sends me over the moon. And look at the little white asparagus. Yes, you can insert your albino penis joke here…or…erm…not. But still! I have never felt more classy eating a meal. I should have paired it with some white wine (if the only kind I have isn’t a month old and in a box–true story) or a fancy dessert.

But instead of dessert I spent my after dinner time gathering emergency supplies in case we have to sleep in the basement tonight. Because of a deadly line of tornadoes headed right for our neck of the woods. Cue Jon Lovitz: “Jealous?”

Recipe can be found in Appetite for Reduction.

Spaghetti & Sausage

As I ate this, I kept thinking–even Ron Swanson would like this sausage. Maybe not, but it was dang meaty, and tasted much better than when I first made it–in my German Braut Nightmare. I sauteed these sausages in the same pan as I made the sauce, I just sat them aside and moved on with my cooking.

I make my own spaghetti sauce–and why not?–it’s so stinking easy. I hate to even think of buying the $6 jar stuff. Making pasta sauce is also weirdly rewarding, it’s one of those things which seems impossible to make unless you are an adorable Italian grandmother, but put on an apron and get out a wooden spoon and you’ll be fine.

Mushroom Marinara Sauce (4 servings):

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/3 cup diced carrots
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 8 oz package of mushrooms (baby bellas or just buttons are nice here), sliced
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
• 3 T tomato paste
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp Balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp agave nectar

Heat oil in a cast iron (or large) skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and carrots, cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Then, add the garlic, mushrooms & pepper flakes. The mushrooms should start to release their juices after about three minutes. Pour in your red wine, and let it reduce until the liquid is mostly gone from the pan (about 5 minutes). Add the liquid from the tomatoes, and crush them with your hands as you add them to the sauce. Stir in the tomato paste and spices, and cook until sauce thickens–about 10 to 15 mins over medium heat. When sauce is thick, add the agave and balsamic. Stir, turn off the heat, and you’re ready to serve. 

I like to top my spaghetti off with nutritional yeast, though that’s totally up to you. 

Breakfast Sampler

I had some leftover tofu, leftover onion, leftover sweet potato…and some experimental sausage. This is what happened:

I made the basic tofu scramble from Vegan Brunch, but I halved the amount of cumin, and replaced it with onion powder. Gentle reader, do not do as I did. Let this be my word of caution to you: it will be bland. Oh, yes, so bland. Use all the cumin, even if you think it’s too strong. Yikes!

The sausage was Gimme Lean. I’ve been trying to think up a meatless alternative to the breakfast sandwiches I make for my husband, and I wasn’t sure if I was up to making breakfast sausage patties myself. I’ll say this–it does taste JUST like sausage. The texture is ever-so-slightly off, but come on. How close do you need it to be? The price at our grocery store is the only hard part: $5.88. Sheesh! So, I think I’m going to glance lovingly over the internet and see if I can’t figure out how to make something like this on my own. Any suggestions?

As for the sweet potatoes–those were my great triumph!

Sweet Potatoes & Onions (serves 2):

• 1 largish sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Prepare a steamer for the sweet potato, and steam those chunks! They should be ready in 10 mins, or when easily pierced by a fork. When cool enough to touch, mix all the ingredients together with your hands (I like to do this directly on the baking sheet). Bake at 400 degrees until everything looks a little browned (probably about 10 to 15 mins, but check on it). Could this be any simpler? But it tasted SO GOOD. I usually really sweeten up my sweet potatoes, so it was nice to get a little hint of the savory.

Nooks & Crannies

I’m fairly certain I’ve discussed making English Muffins before, right? And now, for the very first time, they’ve come out looking just like they are supposed to! YES!

I’ve never felt such an enormous sense of victory before. I HAVE MADE MUFFINS! And they are beautiful.

They seriously even had that little line in the center that tells you were to stick the fork in to split them. My brain was screaming, “Nooks and Crannies! NOOKS AND CRANNIES!”

Spring Gardening

I’m super excited about my herb garden this year! Most of the time I plant herbs from seeds, and nothing happens. So, then I buy some plants…and they all die. But so far, this is my best year yet! Take a look!
Red Basil, Thai Basil & a tiny pepper plant. Grow, my babies, grow!

This cilantro makes me embarrassingly happy. I’ve tried to grow it for about 4 years now, and I never got as far as it actually looking like cilantro. Every day I want to go out there and eat it.

Oh, dill.